The Awakening of a Butterfly Rewrite
by Scriblette
Summary: Chouko has spent her life drowning in self-doubt and self-esteem issues that she refuses to let show. No matter how many times the world kicks her down, she will always get back up again. There comes a time in life where you have to step out of the shadows and into the light, and Chouko is finally ready to make that step. [Rewrite]
1. The Birth of Team Seven

**A/n:** Hey everyone! Been a while again, huh? I really wish I was able to update more frequently, but I do try my best! So I'm back...with a rewrite, of one of my favorite stories that I've written to date! Like I said before this story will focus a lot on body positivity, learning to love yourself, and all kinds of other emotional things. It's basically a story that is centered around coming to accept yourself for who you are, and being proud of it. Which, in my opinion, we need more of! It gets a little old reading about the same perfectly unflawed character over and over again.

Chouko is definitely one of my favorite characters I've created. She's a mess...in a good way if that makes sense. She's a lot like me in how our personality can be bold one minute and then timid the next. I have a lot of ideas and plans for this story that I've been thinking of forever. Naruto is always going to be a big part of my life and childhood and despite its flaws, I still love the series and come back for the characters time and time again.

There will be things that I'll change as I see fit, such as Neji dying because holy shit what a pointless death and I'm still bitter about it. He deserved to live a happy life with TenTen and Lee and he was robbed of it! Sakura also won't be reduced to a damsel in distress in this story - none of the girls will. Seriously, everyone female in the series was so bland and was only used to pump up the male characters, and where's the fun in that?

I'm also going to try and do stories based off the movies every now and again. Those will take time though, obviously.

I don't like any of the pairings in Naruto that are canon.

All of them are so...bland.

 **WARNING** : This story will involve _**gay**_ relationships. If you read that as everyone is going to break out into a big, gay, orgy, then you need some help, immediately. Go read a harem if that's what you want. Do something. I swear half the people on this site use gay/lesbian relationships like a fucking kink or fetish, and it's annoying. So I repeat that this story will have _**gay**_ relationships. No, not _gay_ as in _"fucking",_ which the majority of this site seems to think gay/lesbian relationships are...but gay, as in two people of the same sex who love each other, and are not going to fuck because they are underage and that's a big no-no. So if you don't agree with homosexual relationships, or only like homosexual relationships when they are fucking

 _ **This story is not for you.**_

How dare you take the bland couples that Kishimoto created and turn them into something better, and actually worthwhile! What can I say? I'm a monster. Let's be real here people...Naruto was super gay for Sasuke. Sasuke was super gay for Naruto. Why do you think Sasuke keeps abandoning his family? It's so he can meet up with Naruto for a romantic rendezvous, obviously. But it's cool, Hinata spends that time with Kiba, and Sakura rescues Ino from her incredibly dull life with Sai.

Everyone lives happily ever after.

Please note that Chouko and Shikamaru's relationship is pretty much non-existent right now. The relationship between Shikamaru and Chouko are mutual friends, who really connected through Choji. At the moment, there are no rotating feelings between either of them, not even a crush. It's still early, and I don't want to rush these kids into a relationship in three chapters. I want to gradually build it up so that when it happens it makes sense and it's satisfying.

Also, there is for future reference there is no relationship between Chouko and Kakashi. You can read it as her having a crush on him or whatever, but there won't be anything like that. If anything, the two have a very playful and sibling-like relationship, with Kakashi being something akin to an annoying older brother in her eyes, that she begrudging admires. Just a lot of teasing moments that I can't help but write because I find it adorable.

Sue me.

A warning to anyone who may take interest in this story is that I am in no way a professional writer; I simply write for fun. I am human and I make mistakes but at the very least, I will try my best to correct them.

 **Summary:** Chouko has spent her life drowning in self-doubt and self-esteem issues. And yet, no matter how many times the world kicked her down - she always got back up again. There comes a time in life where you have to step out of the shadows and into the light, and Chouko is finally ready to make that step.

* * *

 _"The wings of transformation are born of patience and struggle."_ \- Janet S. Dickens

Nara Shikamaru sat in his usual spot at the academy, perfectly squished between the loud-mouthed Yamanaka and his best friend, Akimichi Chouji, snacking away on barbecue chips while listening to Ino ramble on about pointless nonsense that neither cared about. Shikamaru carried the same tired expression on his face as he always did. It was squad assignment day where they would meet their teammates and Sensei for the first time; Shikamaru found it pointless since he already knew who would be assigned to what squad and why. Ino, Chouji and himself would all be assigned to a squad lead by a member of the Sarutobi clan as per tradition. Ino was bound to make things troublesome for the three of them whenever given the chance.

Honestly, Shikamaru would have rather been back at home, but instead, he was listening to Ino and Haruno Sakura argue back and forth about who would be paired with Uchiha Sasuke - it was Sakura, that much Shikamaru could guarantee.

Ino wouldn't be happy about it.

What the hell did those two - all of the girls - even see in a guy like that? Someone so rude and crass. In all the years they've attended the academy together he's barely even acknowledged them and yet, every girl in the vicinity wanted to marry him for reasons unknown to Shikamaru.

Well, maybe not _everyone._

There was the Hyuuga girl, Hinata, but everyone and their mother could see she was head over heels in love with Uzumaki Naruto. Shikamaru felt pity for the girl seeing as Naruto has no interest in her, so her feelings would most likely never be returned, maybe in an alternate timeline. Shikamaru puffed out a sigh and looked elsewhere around the room for someone of interest and found them on the left side room with her face and body slouched against the desk.

Akimichi Chouko, that's her name. The distance cousin of Chouji and one of the quieter girls of the class...sometimes. Akimichi Chouko is a light-skinned girl that is pear-shaped, leaning to be heavier on the bottom, with chubby arms and legs, and a pudgy stomach. She has wild, ginger hair that is a mess of spikes that looks rather boyish and piercing rounded silver eyes. Like most members of the Akimichi clan, she too had markings on her cheeks, in the form of pink upside down triangles.

Chouko wears a pale yellow kimono top that is decorated in white flowers and cherry blossoms with black trim that has yellow butterflies sewn into it; her clan symbol; can be found on the back in white. She wears a khaki apron skirt that falls to her knees, and underneath long black spandex and the typical ninja shoes. Her arms from her elbows all the way down to her wrists are wrapped tightly in bandaging that fade into a pair of black fingerless gloves. She wears a weapon pouch on each of her legs and her headband is tied around her waist like a belt. Lastly, she wears a hachimaki around her forehead with the kanji for butterfly.

Shikamaru thought she was one of the cuter girls in their class while many others would call him insane. From what he gathered she liked to be alone with the exception of one obnoxious blond who brought out the best (worst?) in her, usually staring out the window or doodling on a piece of paper. She didn't bother anyone and in return, no one bothered her (minus two annoying fangirls) and she seemed happy that way, even now as she looked out the window, watching the clouds pass by. Shikamaru couldn't help observing her because she was kind of like a puzzle. He never knew what to expect with her, especially when it came to her sudden switches in personality and spur of the moment bold decisions that she always seemed to regret and mull over later.

She was...complicated, but not so much in a bad way; the opposite, in fact.

Almost as feeling his eyes on her Chouko turned around and met his eyes. Shikamaru froze. What did he do now? She had already caught him so looking away would be pointless, but he didn't feel like making conversation either.

 _What a drag._

As he was about to make some sign of acknowledgment she smiled at him, waved, and turned back to what she was doing. Shikamaru blinked. If that had been any other girl like Ino or Sakura they would have gotten mad at him for staring or called him out on it. Then again, Chouko wasn't like that. She wasn't one for stirring up drama or one who got a kick out of it. She was just... _different._

Shikamaru's lips curled into a smile and he turned his attention back the front of the room.

She was definitely interesting. Someone to keep track of.

* * *

Sheep.

Bunny.

Duck.

Some kind of weird _dog?_

Chouko huffed out a sigh. She was sitting in her favorite desk on the left side row that sat near the front, but far enough back where she could stare out the window and see the clear blue sky and greenery of the forest. Whenever she was bored in class she would look outside the window and the sky and make shapes and cloud out of the sky, sometimes games if she were bored enough. In truth, it was just a way to distract herself from the reality of what was happening.

She was a ninja now. After today her life was officially going to change forever...for better, or worse. All morning she had been thinking about the team she'd be placed on and the Sensei they'd be given. She had been praying she wouldn't be put on a team with Sasuke's biggest fangirls Sakura and Ino, she didn't think she'd be able to live with that. They were too annoying. She even wondered if they wanted to become ninja just to be closer to Sasuke.

Chouko sighed and found herself being lured away from the comfort of the window. Why did it feel like she was suddenly being watched? Curiously she turned around and locked eyes with Shikamaru Nara. Shikamaru was probably the smartest kid in the whole academy, and the laziest one too. He had the brains to do anything he put his mind to, but no energy to actually do it. Still, she liked Shikamaru, she guessed. He was one of the few people who didn't just judge anyone based on their appearance or past, rather the way they acted and their personality.

She wouldn't mind being placed on a team with him but knew there was no chance of it happening. Chouji would be the one to go on to create the newest generation of the 'Ino-Shika-Cho', and that suited her just fine.

When he didn't look away Chouko smiled, waved, and turned back to continue her cloud gazing.

"Chouko! Hey Chouko!"

Chouko jumped as she felt her arm being sucked into a vice grip. She quickly relaxed when she caught sight of warm, sunshine blond hair and savory scent of tangy ramen. _Uzumaki Naruto._ Chouko sighed feeling any tension that was beginning to build leave her body as Naruto claimed the seat beside of her, leaning into her and happily babbling on a thousand miles per minute about anything that came to his mind.

Uzumaki Naruto, her very best friend. He was a radiant beam of human-sunshine in her dreary life. They met when they were small, and bonded over the fact that they were both outcasts in some form of way. When she was younger and smaller no one wanted to be friends with her because she was too slow, too shy, too weird - the excuse changed daily. The friends she did make quickly abandoned her...for stupid and selfish reasons. She would always spend her time alone watching the kids from afar wishing that she could be apart of their little world they created. There were only a few people who ever played with her that weren't Choji, which never really counted in her mind because he's family - family is supposed to do that, right? And by extension, Shikamaru, _his_ best friend.

They were always kind to her but Chouko always felt out of place. She felt like a tag-along that nobody really wanted around and that they only accepted her into their little group because they had no other choice. Of course, now, she knows that's not the case, but it's hard to get those feelings out of your mind when your confidence and self-esteem is at rock bottom even if she tries to hide it behind a smile and false bravado.

Naruto, on the other hand, has always been dead last of the class. The kid who always got in trouble did poorly in school and spent his time pulling pranks. The village hated him and nobody liked him, nobody played with him, nobody respected him. He was all alone. It was as if that entire village had come together one day and decided to shun him, and Chouko never understood how someone could look at Naruto - _look into those innocent baby blues_ \- and say such hurtful things about such a kind and caring soul.

Of course, being associated with Naruto made had made her even more of an outcast. That was fine with her. Naruto was her friend, and the opinion of some snot-nosed adults and bratty kids with a stick up there ass would never change that, ever. Naruto had such a warmth to him that made her want to believe that anything was possible and that everything would be alright.

"What is it that has you in such high spirits today, Naruto? Are you really that excited to be assigned to a squad?" Chouko turned to face him while tucked a fist against her chubby cheek.

Naruto grinned. "Believe it! I hope I get put on a team with Sakura!" Naruto said, a dreamy smile coiling onto his face.

The blond glanced down to the first row where a raven-haired boy sat glaring at the space before him. Beside him, a pink-haired girl and blonde-haired girl were fighting over who would get the seat next to him; the grandest of prizes in a room full of hormonal teenage girls with no self-respect.

Chouko rolled her eyes. Sakura and Ino were extremely annoying. All they ever talked about was Sasuke this and Sasuke that, and frankly, she was sick of hearing it...but, the idea of being attacked by a mass of hormonal teenage girls, didn't appeal to her - _not one bit._

"What does Sakura see in that jerk?" Naruto pouted.

Chouko sighed.

"She's young, Naruto," Chouko said. "Right now she doesn't fully grasp the concept of romance and only sees a pretty face. Ino, as well as all the other girls, play a part in it too." She pointed Naruto to the crowd of squealing girls. "It's like a race, you see, all of them are fighting to see who will be the one to claim Sasuke's heart, and in doing so some have even managed to trick themselves into believing that they actually love him, like Sakura and Ino. But they don't. None of them do. They'll realize this, eventually. Right now they're just young, competitive, and incredibly stupid and questioning themselves." She looked to Sakura's face that looked a little to pink "glaring" at the blond.

Chouko cast a glance at Naruto to see if he had heard anything she said, but he didn't. The boy was too busy staring at Sakura like a lovesick puppy. The ginger-haired girl shook her head and leaned back in her seat, wincing as it creaked. Slowly she sat up and folded her hands into her lap. It was funny because, in many ways, Naruto was the same as Sakura and Ino. He never really had a crush on Sakura, until he found out that she had a crush on Sasuke, and suddenly he was head-over-heels in love with her.

It was ridiculous.

None of them knew was love really was. They were all too young and had much more important things to focus on - like trying to survive, in a world filled with killer ninja who will jump at the chance to add you to their body count.

Morbid, but true.

"Huh, guess that does make sense."

Chouko jumped a bit and looked back at Shikamaru with a faint blush. "What do you mean?" She asked, a bit shocked to see that he was still awake and communicating. It was no secret to anyone that Shikamaru liked to spend his time in class snoozing or watching the clouds out of the window.

Shikamaru glanced at the horde of fangirls and then back to Chouko.

"About that." He said nodding towards them. "That's it's just a big game that no one's really aware of. I figured they were all drawn to his cool facade he's always putting on. Girls like that kind of stuff, don't they?" Shikamaru shrugged.

He never understood the appeal of the lone Uchiha, but then again, he never really cared all that much to look more into it, either.

"What can I say? Girls are pretty complicated." She laughed. "And no, not all girls like those kinds of guys, Shikamaru." Chouko tsked. "It's very rude of you to presume such a thing."

"How troublesome." Shikamaru snorted.

Chouko giggled quietly and turned back around. The anxiety she was feeling from earlier was slowly slipping away as she and Naruto traded banter back and forth, with Choji and Shikamaru occasionally cutting in.

It reminded her of when they were kids, and they would all play together. They were rare occasions...but she cherished the memories of them.

Maybe today wouldn't be so terrible after all.

It was about fifteen minutes later when Iruka-sensei strolled into the classroom.

Naruto had given Chouko a helpful poke to wake her from the slumber she had fallen into. Chouko woke with a snort, and drool dribbling down her chin. She was snapped awake hearing the laughter from her classmates, and quickly wiped the drool from her face and ducked her head from their vision to hide the rosy blush on her chubby cheeks. Chouko only half listened to everything Iruka-Sensei was telling them. All she cared about was learning about who she'd be grouped with, and she prayed to every God above that she wouldn't get stuck with someone like Uchiha Sasuke who rubbed her the wrong way.

He didn't bully her like the others have in the past, but his cold stares and blatant ego was enough to put her off. Though he would make a powerful asset being the strongest in their class, and one of the smartest; a powerful ally is someone you definitely want on your side.

"We tried our best to make sure the teams were balanced." Said Iruka. "Okay, the next team is Team Seven..." Iruka-sensei continued to read trailing off as he went over the names.

Chouko perked up.

"Haruno Sakura."

She blanched. Sakura was one of Sasuke's biggest fangirls. Her obsession with the boy was annoying, even if it was just a stupid game she wouldn't admit to with her dying breath. Chouko didn't like her all that much anymore. That and Sakura had never really excelled in much, that she has seen. She was pretty much average, though when she thought of it, she was pretty smart, and picked up on things quickly. She guessed she had potential, but it was being wasted over something as petty as a boy. It just might be that Sakura wouldn't be so bad to have as a comrade...but, she and Chouko have never gotten along much in recent years.

Chouko was someone that Sakura liked to put down to build herself up. Chouko tried to excuse it thinking that perhaps Sakura had her own deep-rooted issues and it was easier to take it out on her, but whenever she started to put down Naruto, that's when Chouko stepped in.

Make fun of her all you want but never Naruto. She wouldn't stand around and let him be bullied if she could help in some way. Even if the whole village was against him she would always remain by his side.

"Uzumaki Naruto."

Chouko plugged her ears when Naruto started to cheer. When he had calmed down she unplugged them with a frown on her face. There was no chance of her being paired with Naruto now since the squads were always three-man cells with one female and two males. It was rare that a four-man cell was established, and even then there was usually only one female. So knowing that she wouldn't be able to grow as a ninja with her best friend had damaged her mood greatly. The idea of being teamed with Naruto was one of the main selling points of her wanting to become a ninja when she was younger and a lot dumber.

They're supposed to be ninja buddies, _damn it!_

 _'Now what? Naruto and I promised to become ninja together.'_ Chouko thought to herself.

She would have been ashamed of the pouty face she was making, had not her ninja dreams just been crushed.

Naruto frowned when he saw how crestfallen Chouko looked. He was excited to be on a team with Sakura, but it wouldn't be the same without Chouko. Naruto sighed and leaned against Chouko, something he had grown accustomed to doing since they were kids. Chouko had the perfect body for cuddling, and even though she denied it, Naruto knew she liked the closeness of another person, just like he did; it comforted them and made them feel not so alone in a world against them.

"Uchiha Sasuke."

Sakura was the one cheering now. Chouko felt sorry for Naruto. He was paired with his biggest quote-on-quote _"rival"_ ,and the girl of his delusional little dream who hated his guts with a burning passion.

 _Poor Naruto._

Chouko consoled her friend by running her chubby fingers through his thick, blond hair that was always so soft, and warm. It was like running her fingers through actual sunshine. She hummed lightly, ignoring those who stared at the two of them.

"And finally, Akimichi Chouko. The four of you will make a four-man cell. While it is uncommon, it's not unheard of." Iruka-sensei told them. "You'll have your work cut out for you and have to work hard while minding your Sensei, ya hear?"

They all gave some form of acknowledgment to which Iruka nodded. He looked back down at his clipboard with a frown. He was opposed to the odd team combination but knew better than to question the judgment of the Hokage. None of their personalities really clicked together, but academically wise, they all perfectly balanced each other out, and that lead to the decision for them to be the four-man squad.

He wished Kakashi the best of luck.

He sure as hell was going to need it.

"Eh, say that again?" Chouko couldn't believe her ears.

She glanced at Naruto who was beaming at her, and then over at Sakura who was glaring, probably upset that she wasn't the only female on Sasuke's team anymore, not that Chouko was interested in him. And then Sasuke offered her a meek glare before going back to ignoring her and the rest of their team.

"Oh boy, this is going to be an absolute disaster." Chouko groaned though her smile never cracked.

"Hey, hey, Chouko! Looks like we're teammates after all!" Naruto grinned sticking his thumbs up. "Let's do our best, okay?"

"Okay, Naruto, I'll do my best." Chouko smiled at him, returning the gesture.

Strike that. With a certain beam of living sunshine around, things just might be tolerable.

 _Just maybe._

* * *

When lunchtime had rolled its head around the group of Ino, Chouji, and Shikamaru had all gone out to the balcony to eat their lunches. Shikamaru was sitting against the outside of the rail with one leg crossed over the other and his arm hanging limply over the rail. He was chewing on one of the riceballs that Choji's mother, Amaiko, had made for them while simultaneously listening to Ino rant and rave at the same time.

The girl was such a headache.

Ino deciding she had enough of the silence, jumped up from her seat and glared condescendingly at the two boys. "Alright! If we are going to be in the same group then you two are going to have to follow my lead. It's the only way this mess will ever work." She said in a bossy way that only Ino seemed to know how to do.

Shikamaru scoffed. "Yeah, yeah." He shook her off choosing to focus on his riceball instead. _'It's the only way it will work because she'll throw a murderous fit if she doesn't get her way.'_ Shikamaru thought to himself.

"Why don't you lead us to some barbeque Ino!" Chouji said with a mouthful of food.

"Hopeless!" The blonde cried.

Shikamaru was ready to object when the sight of a familiar ginger-haired girl below them caught his attention. _Chouko._ She was walking around looking extremely annoyed and exhausted. She was tossing an apple up and down as she walked along the road, her silver eyes roaming all around as if she were searching for someone.

Suddenly she came to a halt and sighed. "I take it back. This is unbearable." Shikamaru heard her say as she took a large bite out of her apple. "Some team. They can't even do something as simple as have lunch together." She groaned looking at the sky for a minute before her gaze fell back down onto the apple she had been previously eating.

A sour look crossed her face as she tossed it into a nearby trash can. She's not a fan of sour flavors the Nara boy noted to the part of his brain that was reserved for the odd Akimichi girl.

"Shikamaru! Have you heard anything I've said just now?!" Ino demanded with hands on her hips. She peered over his shoulder wondering just what had caused him to become so distracted. "What are you looking at?" She asked.

Shikamaru sighed and rolled his eyes. Why the hell did she care to know? It wasn't like it was any of her business to know such trivial things anyway.

"Hey! That's Chouko!" Ino yelled the obvious. "Chouko! Hey! Up here!" Ino yelled while waving her arms around in a comedic fashion.

"What the hell are you doing?" Shikamaru glared at her.

Chouko jumped a little, startled by Ino's yelling. She spun around and caught sight of the trio, easing her worry into a smile. "Ah, Ino, Choji, Shikamaru!" She greeted all of them in kindness.

"Wanna have lunch with us?" Ino asked with a forced smile.

What the heck was she planning in that thick skull of hers? He wouldn't admit it, but Shikamaru was a bit curious.

Chouko seemed to look around for a minute before shrugging. "Sure." She said and walked towards a tree near the balcony.

She wiped the apple juice from her hand and leaped upwards grabbing onto a sturdy branch that was sticking out. She looked at the balcony with a focused gaze, her body started to rock back and forth and before anyone could ask what she was doing she swung forward, grabbing onto the rail and hoisting herself over, landing with a surprisingly, delicate flip.

They all stared at her.

"What?" She blinked as her face drained of color. "Do I...have something on my face?!" Chouko asked panicking at the thought of her lunch being smeared all over her face - that would be so embarrassing!

It wasn't _that._ No one expected her...to be so _nimble._ The only one who didn't seem surprised at all was Choji, who smiled and complimented her on her landing.

"You could have just come in through the door like a normal person." Ino sighed and pointed to the door behind her.

"We're ninja Ino," She said with a bashful laugh. "Nothing we do is normal."

"She got you there." Chouji laughed stuffing another riceball in his mouth. Chouko grinned and at him and plopped down beside him. She leaned against him and rested her head against his shoulder as Choji leaned his head against her own. "Want one?" He offered.

"Ah man! Did Aunt Amaiko make these? Hell yeah!" Chouko grinned and greedily stuffed one of the delicious riceballs in her mouth. "So good! So much better than mine! I always make them too sticky or I always make them too sweet." Chouko gagged. "Aunt Amaiko's are always just right!"

'She can't cook.' Shikamaru added to his list of growing notes.

"I think your riceballs are pretty good, Chou" Choji said thoughtfully.

"You're too kind, Cho." Chouko sighed. "Never change."

"Rodger!" Choji saluted, before panicking as he almost let his riceball fall, making Chouko laugh.

Shikamaru smiled watching the cousins interact. One would think they were brother and sister with how close they were. It always amused Shikamaru with how different the two were, and yet, how alike they were. Maybe that's why he found her to be so interesting? That was probably it.

Ino spun around and faced the girl with a mischievous smile on her face.

This could only spell disaster.

"So, Chouko, how is your team doing? Mine is awesome!" She spoke through gritted teeth. "Are you all getting along with one another?"

Chouko didn't answer right away. Instead, she ate her riceball, extra slow, to annoy the prodding blonde. When she finished she cocked her head to the side and smiled. "That's so kind of you to ask Ino! But I think what you really wanted to ask is how Sasuke is doing, and how close Sakura is getting to him, right?" Chouko asked cocking a brown. "After all, you wouldn't want to lose the game, huh?"

Shikamaru and Choji laughed.

Ino's face turned red and her brows angrily knitted together. "That's not what I meant at all!" Ino tried to deny it but Chouko wasn't buying it. "And my feelings are not a game!" She fervently denied though they all knew the truth.

"Why don't you ask him yourself Ino? He's right over there." Choji pointed to the building across from them.

Sure enough, there was Sasuke with his back to them, eating what looked like a rice ball stuffed with tomatoes. Shikamaru glanced over at Chouko. She was glaring at the back of the Uchiha's head with needles made of piercing venom. The sight of such a harsh glare on her chubby face was...adorable, and almost made him laugh, but instead, he shook his head and went back to minding his own business.

Ino could learn a thing or two about that.

* * *

Chouko glared at the back of Sasuke's head with puffed out cheeks. At that time she had spent looking for him...and he had never left the building?!

Chouko scowled. "One idiot down. One Fangirl to go. And a loveable knucklehead to boot." She bitterly mumbled.

She was about to asked Choji for another of Amaiko's riceballs when she suddenly caught sight of Naruto creeping along the open road and to the open window that Sasuke had his back turned to.

"What the hell are you up to, Naru?" Chouko narrowed her eyes. She could practically feel it coming when Naruto suddenly jumped through the window and tackled Sasuke to the ground out of their vision.

Chouko sighed heavily while the others seemed taken back.

It wasn't unlike Naruto to do something this dumb. One day he was going to take his pranks too far...and somehow, she always got involved in the - not that she complained since sometimes they were pretty fun.

"Naruto! If you so much as scratch him you are on my enemy list forever!" Ino shouted though he hadn't heard.

It was a minute later when _'Sasuke'_ clumsily leaped out of the window leading the others to believe had won the fight. Chouko wasn't so sure. There was something off about _'Sasuke'_ that had her narrowing her eyes in suspicion.

"He beat Naruto without even breaking a sweat," Shikamaru said leaning away from the railing.

"What did you expect? Naruto against my boy Sasuke? No contest." Ino stretched her arms out and smirked.

"You're wrong," Chouko said making them all turn and look at her. "That's not Sasuke." She groaned.

"What are you talking about? Of course, that's Sasuke!" Ino scowled at her, "You actually think Naruto could beat Sasuke?! Get real, Chouko! There's no way that deadbeat could put a scratch on Sasuke!"

Chouko shot Ino a glare and waited to _'Sasuke'_ to leave. When he was out of sigh she leaped the distance from the building to the other that Sasuke had been eating his lunch in. Of course instead of finding a beaten Naruto like the others had been expecting, she instead found Sasuke on the floor, all tied up and looking extremely annoyed that he had been tricked by Kohona's number one knuckle-headed ninja: Uzumaki Naruto.

Chouko blinked. "This...isn't what I was expecting." She said trying to bite back a snicker.

Sasuke was always acting too cocky and arrogant and that fact that he had fallen victim to Naruto's little prank really tickled her funny bone.

Sasuke glared at her and seemed to say with his eyes _'untie me now!'._

"You could at least say please." Chouko sighed and pulled a kunai out of one of her weapon pouches. She crouched down low beside Sasuke and gently slid her kunai underneath the rope, careful not to cut him. "So...how did he do this?" Chouko motioned to the rope that now lay slashed on the ground.

"Shadow Clones..." Sasuke admitted reluctantly.

Shadow Clones? What? The other day Naruto didn't even know how to make a single clone! Now he was making clones? When had this happened and why hadn't he told her? She felt hurt.

"I can help you find him if you want." She offered. It was better than sitting around and doing nothing, even though she kinda liked having lunch with Team Ten, even if Ino only wanted to squeeze information out of her about Sasuke.

"I don't need your help." Sasuke hissed at her. "I can find that loser on my own."

Chouko smirked, "You sure about that? Because I just happened to see Naruto run by disguised as you. Where do you think he'd be going like that, Sasuke? Perhaps to visit a pink haired girl head over heels in love -" She snickered as she air quotations " - with you, disguised as you?"

Sasuke twitched and seemed to think for a minute.

"Whatever. Just don't slow me down." He scoffed and took the lead.

"Aye-aye!" Chouko saluted.

* * *

"Chouko is crazy if she thinks that Naruto could actually beat Sasuke. He can't even make a proper clone!" Ino laughed and stared at the window waiting for Chouko to come out and announce she was wrong.

Chouko did come out, but not with the dejected face that she had been expecting but instead a cocky smirk that screamed 'I told you so!' that Ino wanted to smack off her fat face.

Sasuke was right behind her looking more annoyed than ever.

"S-Sasuke?!" Ino puttered.

"No way! Naruto actually beat him?" Shikamaru blinked back his disbelief. _'Observant'_ , he added.

"I believed her." Choji said eating his last riceball, "No one knows Naruto better than Chouko."

Chouko flashed a peace sign at Ino and grabbed Sasuke by the wrist, "Naruto went this way!" She yelled pulling him along.

When Sasuke and Chouko were out of sight Ino let out a frustrated scream. _"I hate her!"_ She yelled stamping her foot angrily, "She thinks she's so smart! How the hell was I supposed to know that wasn't Sasuke! _AHHHHHHH!_ "

Shikamaru sighed, "What a drag."

* * *

It had taken some time but they were eventually able to track down Sakura who was sitting on a bench looking lovesick. Chouko took it as a sign that Naruto had definitely been there. She called out to the pink-haired girl who frowned when seeing her, and then twisting her frown into a scowl when she noticed Sasuke walking alongside her.

"Sasuke you're back!" Sakura beamed ignoring Chouko in favor of Sasuke. "Come on now, don't be so shy, you bad, bad, boy! So are you ready now? You know, mentally prepared? Because I am! I, uh, mean that I'm raring to go!..."

 _'This is...so pathetic. Better move along to make this less awkward for her.'_ Chouko cringed.

Sakura's face fell as Sasuke and Chouko walked right past her. "H-Hey! Wait a minute!" She yelled desperately.

Chouk nudged Sasuke who stopped and glared at her. Chouko rolled her eyes and pointed back at Sakura. She obviously wasn't going to tell her anything.

"Where's Naruto?" Sasuke asked slightly annoyed by Sakura's persistence and Chouko's general presence.

"Oh, see, there you go changing subjects again!" Sakura smirked coyly. "You know why he is so annoying? It's because he wasn't raised right." Sakura said.

Chouko stiffened and glared coldly at her. She didn't like the direction this conversation was going.

"He doesn't have a mother or father. There's no one to teach him wrong from right. Think about it! All he ever does is just do whatever comes right into his head." She wagged her finger around. "If I did things like Naruto does then I'd get in big trouble! My parents would be furious, so of course, I don't do it. But if you don't have parents to tell you how would you know? He's selfish and bratty and he's all alone!"

Chouko felt rage fill her veins as she stomped towards the pinkette.

Talk shit about her? That's fine.

Talk shit about Naruto? May the gates of hell have mercy on your soul.

"Of all the horrible and nasty things to ever come our your mouth - _this is the worst!_ " Chouko shouted grabbing Sakura by the front of her dress. "Not everyone has the luxury of having their parents like you do, Sakura! What the in the actual hell is wrong with you to say something so horrible?! You should know by now that this world is unpredictable and that anything can happen at any given moment, then how would you feel? And just who the hell do you think you are you judge Naruto!? You don't know anything about him or the things he has been through!"

Sakura's eyes widened. "G-Get off of me!" She shouted shoving Chouko away. The gingerette looking like a wild animal with her wide eyes and angry glare.

It honestly terrified Sakura.

"Alone. I still hate it. It's not about your parents scolding you. You have no idea what it means to be alone." Sasuke said through clenched teeth and balled fists.

 _'She hit a nerve. Not the best way to impress the love of your life, Sakura.'_ Chouko frowned watching the leaves drift by with the wind.

"What? Why are you saying that?" Sakura almost looked offended, as if Sasuke had said something wrong to her.

"Because," Sasuke turned and glared at her, "You're annoying." And with that Sasuke walked away leaving Sakura wide-eyed and broken.

Chouko sighed and stepped up to the girl while fighting down her own anger.

"You really don't know anything about Sasuke, do you? If you did you wouldn't have just said all that. All you've done is angered him and me. Do you even hear what comes out of your mouth, Sakura? Maybe you should try and think about other peoples feeling for once instead of your own. Is this stupid game you're playing that important that you're willing to put other peoples feeling to the side, for your own selfish desires?"

And like Sasuke, Chouko walked away leaving the pinkette to think about what she said.

* * *

It was later when Chouko and the rest of Team Seven met back at the academy. Everything was slowly melding back together, so Chouko had taken a seat on the far side of the room by the window. She hummed looking outside at the fat puffy clouds. She'd much rather be out there than in here, anything was better than this.

Chouko smiled as she caught sight of Shikamaru, Ino, and Choji walking away in the distance with Asuma-sensei at the lead. She was very familiar with Sarutobi Asuma, a father-figure to her in the absence of the one she had long since lost, not that she remembered much of him, to begin with. It was no surprise that he ended up being the leader of Squad Ten. He was the perfect fit, and honestly, she was a little jealous.

Chouko knocked loudly on the glass. It took a minute but eventually, the outside group stopped and looked around for the source of the noise. It was Choji who spotted her, waving his arms around in the air and shouting something that she couldn't hear while Shikamaru gave a lazy wave and Ino huffed, turning away and pretending she didn't exist. Asuma-sensei gave a nod of acknowledgment and a small smile.

Chouko grinned and waved them away.

"Naruto! Sit down!"

Chouko sighed loudly.

What were they arguing about now?

Chouko turned around in her seat and found Naruto stood in front of the door looking rather impatient with their Sensei's tardiness and Sasuke and Sakura looked annoyed in general. She couldn't blame them she guessed, their Sensei was three hours late.

Didn't Iruka Sensei say their Sensei was a Jonin? Shouldn't they know better?

"I don't want to!" Naruto whined. "How come our Sensei is the only one who's late? I'm ready to role, believe it! The other students have already met their Sensei and took off on some cool adventure, or something! Iruka-sensei is gone too!"

"We already know that." Chouko frowned. "But there isn't much we can do. It's not like we can just leave, ya know? Hey, Naruto, are you even listening to me?!"

Chouko groaned watching Naruto attempting to pull another of his pranks. Hadn't he learned by now? He always got caught, and always got into trouble. Sighing, she crossed her arms over her chest and shook her head. He was going to have to learn one day that his actions had consequences.

"Hey! What are you doing?!" Sakura demanded with hands pressed against her hips. "Naruto!"

"This is what he gets for coming late - surprise!" Naruto grinned and jumped from the chair he was standing on.

Did he really believe their Sensei would fall for that?

"You're asking for trouble. You know you shouldn't do that!" Miss-Goody-Two-Shoes scolded, but it was clear that she was just as excited as Naruto.

That was another thing that Chouko couldn't stand about Sakura, is that she was always putting Naruto down. It didn't matter how kind he was to her, she always brushed him aside and treated his as a lower-class citizen, and went out of her way to humiliate him.

"Our teacher is a Jonin, an Elite Ninja. You really think he'd fall for that?" Sasuke's hands were folded in front of his face, and his eyes were closed.

"Yeah! Sasuke's right, Naruto! You're so clueless."

"Hey, Sakura, do us all a favor and shut the hell up. You're clearly just as excited about all this as Naruto is. Stop trying to pretend that you're better than we are." Chouko scoffed. "Jeez, you're such a kiss ass, you know that?"

Sakura's face turned as pink as her hair. "No one asked you, tubby!" She yelled and pointed an angry finger her way.

Chouko winced causing Sakura to smirk. A fat joke. Really? Cheap shot. Chouko scoffed and folded her arms over her chest. She glared at Sasuke who she was sitting by her and jabbed a thumb towards Sakura.

"Oi, Sasuke, control your dog. She's getting out of control. If you don't I just might have to put her down."

Sakura let out a horrified screech as her face once again turned red. She looked from a laughing Chouko to Sasuke, who seemed to be amused, but of course, wouldn't let them see it. Instead, he scoffed and rolled his eyes.

"Not my problem." He said with a click of his tongue.

Sakura wanted to curl into a ball and die. Her inner-self was screaming at her to fight back, but she was too heartbroken by Sasuke's blatant rejection to do anything.

The door suddenly cracked opened and everyone froze while holding their breaths. As a masked man with silver hair popped his head inside of the room, the eraser that Naruto had placed on top of the door fell and smacked him on the head in a cloud of chalk dust.

Naruto was rolling on the ground with laughter. "Hahaha! I got him! He totally fell for it!" He chortled pointing at the masked man.

"I'm so sorry Sensei! I told him not to do it, but he wouldn't listen! I'd never do something like that!" Sakura said.

"Suck up." Chouko rolled her eyes. Sasuke bobbed his head in agreement.

The man cleared his throat and gathered their attention. "Hm, how can I put this?" The man mused, picking the fallen eraser up from the ground. "My first impression of this group? You're all a bunch of idiots."

Chouko felt a stabbing jab towards the little pride she carried and shamefully hung her head.

Things couldn't possibly get any worse

* * *

Chouko and Team Seven sat on the roof of the Academy. Chouko was squished uncomfortably between Sasuke and Naruto, while Sakura sat on the other side of Sasuke. Their Sensei was casually leaning against the rail in front of them with an apparent look of boredom on his surprisingly youthful face. Chouko honestly thought their Sensei looked to be rather young for a Jonin but knew better than to judge someone based on age. None of those things mattered in the world of ninja; ninja come in all different shapes, sizes, colors, and age, and each could prove to be more deadly than the next.

"Alright. Why don't you introduce yourselves? One at a time." The silver-haired man said in an almost bored manner.

"Introduce ourselves?" Sakura repeated. "How so? Like, what should we say?"

The man shrugged. "Things you like, things you hate, dreams for the future, hobbies, things like that." He said with a flourish of his hand.

"Doesn't sound too hard," Sakura said.

Chouko was definitely interested in learning more about her team. She knew a lot about Naruto, obviously, at least what he was willing to tell her. There were some things he hid from her, and it did hurt a little, but she knew he'd tell her when he was ready. What she did know is that he liked to cause pranks, and that trouble clung to him like a magnet and that for some reason, everyone in the village hated him.

Chouko found this to be odd. Naruto was definitely a goofball, but a harmless one. He'd never do anything to intentionally hurt someone or make them feel bad about themselves...so why did the village go out of their way to make him feel like an outcast?

What made Uzumaki Naruto so different from everyone else?

She knew a fair bit about Sakura. She knew that she hailed from no clan and that she and Ino and used to be the best of friends, as well as...Chouko frowned and shooked her head. Chouko always felt there was something more between the two until Sakura decided that she's _"hopelessly"_ in _"love"_ with Sasuke. It was funny since she never really showed any interest in Sasuke until Ino announced her crush on him. Then again, Ino never bothered announcing her crush on Sasuke until she heard the word, that Sakura liked him.

Other than that, she is pretty smart, and has shown decent control over her chakra, and picks up things pretty quickly. But, all that is thrown out the door when she'd rather spend her time ogling Sasuke.

As much as Chouko hated to admit it...she felt that Sakura could be a pretty strong shinobi one day if she ever decided to really put her mind to it. Chouko envied Sakura in many aspects. She was smart, beautiful, and always did better than her in just about everything, and it's in many ways one of the reasons she gets so annoyed when she sees her wasting her potential on a pointless feud.

...Or maybe, she just thinks back to when they were young, and the times they would play together and weren't constantly at each other's throats like rabid animals.

Chouko frowned and shook her head. People grow and change all the time.

Sometimes though, it is for the worst.

 _'Way to bum yourself out Chouko.'_ She thought with a sigh.

She glanced over at Sasuke who always had his fist tucked under his chin and a glare on his face.

Chouko as much about Sasuke as everyone else did, but everyone knew of his sad tale. She was aware of his Clan's massacre and figured this is why Sasuke was so cold to everyone and why he kept his distance.

She couldn't even begin to imagine what it fell like to be entirely all alone. Sure her parents weren't with her anymore...but she still had Kurenai-Sensei and Asuma-Sensei looking out for her; Kurenai and Asuma had been close with her parents and when they passed when Chouko was young, the two promised to look out for her. It did make her sad when she tried to remember her parents and couldn't...but she had two wonderful people looking out for her, and that's more than she could ever ask for.

"Why don't you go first, Sensei?" Sakura said, drawing Chouko back to reality.

Chouko nodded. "You should tell us something about yourself to show us how it works," she finished with a smile. Really, she just wanted to learn something - _anything_ \- about their Sensei. He seemed familiar but she just couldn't place a name to the masked face.

The man raised a challenging brow at them. "Me? I'm Hatake Kakashi." He said. "Things I like, and things I hate...I don't really feel like telling you that. My dreams for the future? Never really thought about it. As for hobbies, I have lots of hobbies."

Chouko's brow twitched.

"Well, that was totally useless." Sakura scoffed. "All he really told us was his name," Sakura whispered to the three of them.

Chouko reluctantly agreed with the pinkette.

"Your turn," Kakashi said. "You on the right, you first," Kakashi said to the blond-haired boy dressed in orange.

Chouko smiled encouragingly at Naruto and stuck up a thumb. He seemed to be excited to talk about himself, and honestly, it was too stinking adorable.

"Believe it!" Naruto said adjusting his headband. "I'm Uzumaki Naruto! I like instant ramen in a cup, and I really like the ramen that Iruka-Sensei got me at the Ichiraku Noddle Shop! But I hate the three minutes you have to wait after your pour the water into the ramen cup..."

Chouko snorted. If there was one thing Naruto loved more than anything else it the world, it was ramen.

It was pretty much the only thing he ever ate.

"My hobbies include pulling pranks on the village geezers with Chouko!"

Chouko blanched. He could have...left that part out. She noticed Kakashi-Sensei's side glare and chuckled nervously as she mumbled out a half-excuse of an apology.

"And my future dream...is to be the greatest Hokage! Then, the whole village will stop disrespecting me, and start treating me like I'm somebody - somebody important!"

A smile stretched across her face when she looked at Naruto. The determination was burning brightly in his baby blue eyes. The village clown wanted to become Hokage...so people would finally show him some respect.

Naruto the Hokage...she liked the sound of it.

And she believed one-hundred percent in him.

She smiled at him and refocused her attention on Kakashi-sensei. She couldn't help but wonder what kind of dreams Sasuke and Sakura had.

"Alright, next." Kakashi nodded at Sakura. Sakura is a girl with long, pink hair, and bright green eyes, wearing a red dress.

 _ **'Someday I'm going to become a super strong kunoichi, Chouko! I'll become super famous, just you wait and see!'**_

"I'm Sakura Haruno! What I like, uh I mean the person I like...mmmm!" Oh, God. "Um, my hobby is, uh, my dream for the future!..." Sakura looked over at Sasuke and started giggling behind her fist.

Chouko frowned deeply. 'Whatever happened to that dream, Sakura?'

"And what do you hate?" Kakashi asked.

"NARUTO!"

"WHAT?!"

Chouko whipped around to face Sakura with an angry glare. "That was uncalled for, Sakura! You don't have any right to act like such a righteous bitch towards Naruto! He's only ever been nice to you which is something someone as self-centered as _you_ don't deserve!" Chouko scowled at Sakura.

"Shut up, Chouko! You're only friends with Naruto because he's the only who likes you! No one else would be friends with the class fatty otherwise!" Sakura scowled back. "But you know that say about losers sticking together."

Kakashi sighed watching the two bickering girls. Chouko had turned red in the face and had balled her fist together. He half expected her to pounce, but she kept her composure - _somewhat_ \- it was obvious that the comment about her weight had upset her, but she didn't say anything, but her expression showed it all.

"Enough!" Kakashi yelled making the girls jump and end their bickering. "You now." Kakashi pointed at Sasuke. The raven-haired boy with obsidian eyes dressed in blue and white.

Like always he had his hands folded so they covered his mouth, and his eyes were fixed in a glare.

"My name is Uchiha Sasuke, I hate a lot of things, and I don't particularly like anything." He said making the Haruno's face fall. "What I have is not a dream, because I will make it a reality. I'm going to restore my clan and destroy a certain someone."

Sakura almost seemed turned on by Sasuke, while Naruto looked completely terrified. He probably thought Sasuke was talking about him.

Chouko felt sympathetic. She knew the person Sasuke was talking about had to be his older brother. Chouko frowned at the ground. Was revenge really worth it though? What happened when it was over?

The act of revenge wouldn't magically bring his clan back to life.

Chouko felt a bit nervous with everyone looking at her. For a minute, she gathered her courage, before locking eyes with her Sensei.

"My name is Akimichi Chouko! I enjoy going out for barbeque with my cousin Choji and watching the clouds with Shikamaru when invited, and I especially enjoy spending time with my best friend, Uzumaki Naruto!"

Naruto grinned widely.

"I hate obnoxious fangirls who have no regards for other peoples feelings." Her eyes flickered to Sakura. "My goal isn't really anything that special, honestly." Chouko blushed. "I just want to become a really cool ninja that people can look up to, and be inspired by. One day, I'd like to lead my own squad, or maybe I'll become Naruto's assistant when he's Hokage..." Chouko trailed off thoughtfully.

It would be nice, but she didn't know if she could handle all the work that came hand-in-hand with such a powerful position. It seemed like a position better for someone of Shikamaru's caliber.

"If I can even become half of the ninja that Kurenai-sensei and Asuma-Sensei are, well, then I really don't have any complaints." Chouko finished with a smile.

Naruto stared at her with wide eyes, Sakura pretended to not care as she held a far-off look in her eyes, and Sasuke said nothing, only stared at her out of the corner of his eye.

Kakashi stared at the girl before nodding, "Good. You are each unique and you have your own ideas. We'll have our first mission tomorrow." He said with a clap of his hands.

"Already?" Chouko asked. "It seems to soon to have one." She tilted her head.

"What kind of mission are we going to have, Sensei?" Naruto asked with a tilt of his head.

"It's a task that the five of us will do together," Kakashi-sensei answered simplistically.

Chouko frowned. Did their Sensei have to be so vague?

"Can you be less vague?" Chouko asked, "That doesn't really tell us much."

"A survival exercise," Kakashi answered.

The group collectively groaned. Well, Sasuke grunted, but it still counted in Chouko's book.

"I thought we were supposed to have a real mission, not more practice." Sakura glared, "We already did this stuff at the academy. That's how we got here."

"This is not like your previous training." Kakashi hummed.

There was an edge to his voice that sent shivers down Chouko's spine.

"So what kind of training is it then?" Naruto asked. Instead of reply Kakashi stared chuckling.

"What about that was funny?" Chouko frowned.

"If I tell you the answer, you're not going to like it~," Kakashi said in a sing-song tone.

"Oh yeah? Why is that?" Chouko challenged with a smirk of her own.

"Of the thirty-one graduates who just came here, only ten will be accepted as Genin. The others will be weeded out and sent back to the academy. In other words, this is a make it or break it pass-fail-test, and the chance that you'll fail is at least sixty-six percent."

Her breathe caught in her throat. Sixty-six percent chance of failure? Chouko felt her dreams ending before they even began.

"See? Didn't I tell say you wouldn't like it?" Kakashi said, with a closed-eyed smile. _Cheeky bastard._

"That's crazy! We worked hard to get here! What was that graduation test for anyway?!" Naruto yelled.

"Oh, that? That was just to select candidates who might become Genin, or not." Kakashi shrugged.

"That's not fair!" Sakura scowled, "We worked hard to get here, Sensei!"

Again, Chouko found herself agreeing with Sakura. How annoying.

"That's how it is." Kakashi said, "I decided whether you pass, or fail. Be at the designated training spot at five in the morning, and bring your ninja gear. Oh, and tomorrow, you might want to skip breakfast - or else you'll puke."

Chouko groaned. This was not going to be easy.

* * *

The first official meeting of Team Seven had ended and Chouko felt exhausted of all her energy. All she wanted to do was go home and get some rest, and mentally prepare for whatever hell Kakashi-Sensei planned to put them through. She had even denied getting ramen with Naruto, and when seeing his heartbroken face, had promised to make it up to him in some way later.

As she walked the streets of Kohona her mind kept wandering back to what Kakashi-Sensei had told them earlier. Ten. Only ten of them would become Genin. There was a very high chance that she could fail. Then what? This is what she had set her mind to doing. If she failed now after coming so far, then she would surely disappoint the few people who believed in her, and that's the last thing she wanted.

She wanted people to be proud of her.

Chouko sighed and like always when she found herself in deep thought she looked to the sky. The swirlings cloud of pink and orange brought her an odd sense of comfort.

Whatever it was she had to endure she'd grin and bear it. She made the decision to become a ninja and she was going to see it through.

Eventually, this world would know her name, and no one would mock her ever again.

* * *

 **EndNote:** The first chapter didn't change much because I didn't feel there was a need to completely change it all around, just add some new things to make it flow better.

I'm excited to begin working on this story again. Chouko is a very fun character to write :)


	2. Pass or Fail: Survival Test!

**An:** So with this chapter, I edited out pieces that I didn't need and didn't work with the story anymore, and added in a bit from chapter three that flower much nicer with this chapter. In the next chapter, the new changes will come and we'll have some new fresh content mixed with the old! I'm excited and hope you all are too.

* * *

Chouko arrived at her home later than she normally would that following night after meeting with Team Seven. She didn't really think nothing too much of it since she lived alone, and it wasn't like there was anyone waiting up for. As soon as she had entered the apartment and discarded her sandals and headed straight to her room where she fell face first onto her bed. Her apartment wasn't anything too special, just a big open space with the bare minumum of furnishing, and a lot of dust and aged spiderwebs; it could use a nice cleaning, but Chouko was far too lazy for that.

Another day, she told herself, as she drifted off to sleep.

* * *

Chouko woke up the following morning on the hard floor of her messy bedroom. Her hair stuck up in every direction she looked, and she had dry drool caked to her chubby face. Chouko groaned trying to drown out the faint sound of beeping in the background, debating whether or not she should just ignore her alarm or go back to bed, before remembering the test, and if she were to do that then she would surely flunk and her dream of becoming a ninja would be dead.

Groaning, she smacked her alarm to shut it up and dragged herself up from the floor. She dropped her blanket cape and changed from her pajamas and into her ninja gear; she ran a brush through her unruly hair, knowing that it was an impossible feat, but still tried her damnedest anyway.

She then looked at herself in the mirror with a frown settled on her face. Aunt Amaiko

had made sure her outfit has been tailor to perfect fit her, and yet that didn't stop her from nitpicking all the flaws she found herself. She felt that the top was too tight, and exposed her stomach fat and that the skirt was too big, and made her look wider than she really was - not to mention she thought the colors looked hideous on her; no matter how perfect the outfit was, she would only ever see the flaws.

Chouko sighed and finished preparing. She grabbed her ninja pack and strapped it on. She then left her bedroom to entered the kitchen debating on what to eat. Kakashi-sensei's words of advice echoed in her head, but she paid them little mind as she raided her snack cabinet for all its protein bars that she greedily stugged into her bag.

Food is extremely important in her clan. It's the foundation that builds up their chakra reserves and keeps them healthy and strong. Chouko can't afford to miss a meal, even if she told herself she could.

Chouko hummed quietly to herself as she walked down the street. There weren't many people out this early - mostly shinobi - but the ones that were out and about looked at her with disgust, and avoided her like the plague. Chouko wrapped her arms around herself and tried to ignore them. You would think that she would have grown used to the odd stares, but the fact of the matter is she hasn't and she didn't think she ever would. All of it stemmed from the fact that she was friends with Naruto, and was the one that they always have seen her with. Apparently associating with Naruto was something akin to having a contagious disease that made everyone around your dissappear.

 _Good._

Today though, she just couldn't be bothered to entertain them, as she had more important things to worry about.

She wouldn't be bothered by simple-minded civilians.

 _'Hah! Keep telling yourself that.'_ Chouko scowled at her inner thoughts. She really was her own worst critic.

"Good morning, Chouko."

Chouko stopped so fast adn turned so quickly that she nearly face-planted! Face-to-face she looked up to the woman that she considered as her mother in the life where she lacked one. "Kurenai!" Chouko yelled happily tackling the woman in a tight hug. "Good morning to you, too! You're up pretty early today. Training, right?" Chouko smiled and released her from the hug, teetering back and forth on the balls of her feet in an attempt to catch her balance.

"I could ask you the same thing." Kurenai laughed and affectionately ruffled her hair. "I'd say you got your work cut out for you with that little team and Sensei of yours, but I'm sure it's nothing that you can't handle." Kurenai winked.

Chouko grinned widely. She had been wih Kurenai-Sensei since she was a little girl, she's always admired the woman and has dreamed of becoming a ninja just like her. It was because of her parents' close relationship with both Asuma and Kurenai that she had two incredible people looking after her abd stepping in to fit a paternal roll, even if they didn't see each other all the time; they didn't need to, family always stayed close to the heart, Chouko thinks.

"Kakashi-Sensei has some stupid survival test planned." Chouko sighed. "I have a feeling it's going to be pretty brutal."

"You should go then. You don't want to keep your team waiting." Said Kurenai.

"I somehow doubt he'll be waiting," Chouko mumbled remembering how he had shown up three hours late for their first meeting. "You and Asuma should come by sometime! We can play shogi and you can make me some miso ramen! Oh! And say hi to Asuma-Sensei for me when you see him; Choji and Shikamaru too, and I guess Ino. Bye, Kurenai-Sensei!" Chouko waved as she jogged away to make it to the designated meeting spot on time.

Kurenai chuckled quietly. Chouko was the perfect mixture of her mother and father. She knew that if they could see her now that they would be blown away by how much she's grown up.

She had high hopes for the young ninja in training.

* * *

Chouko was surprised when she was the first to arrive at the training ground. She was sure that Sasuke or even Sakura would have beat her to it, but not Naruto; he was probably still in bed or scrambling to get around. With a sigh, the gingerette slumped against a tree and hugged her knees to her chest, and then folded her arms over them and rested her weary head.

It wasn't much longer after when the others arrived, looking more tired than the next.

Chouko chuckled lightly and smiled at them and waved, "Morning." She whispered tiredly.

Naruto murmured a slur of incoherent words and plopped down beside of Chouko and resting his head against her shoulder. His eyes were closed shut and a trail of drool leaked down his chin. It was gross and kind of adorable at the same time, Chouko thought while leaning against him; she was always taller than him, making it a little awkward, but neither of them minded.

"It's so early..." Sakura yawned and slumped down on the ground, "What on earth was Kakashi-Sensei thinking? This is way too early!"

"The earlier the better," Chouko said stretching her arms while being careful not to shake Naruto. "Time doesn't wait for anyone and at our level, we need all the training we can possibly get to prepare us for the missions we'll be taking soon."

"She's right." Sasuke scoffed leaning against a tree. "Stop whining, Sakura."

Sakura gasped loudly. "But Sasuke!" When the Uchiha ignored her Sakura sent a pointed glared towards Chouko that just seemed to scream _'I hate you!'._

Chouko shrugged at Sakura and pulled the protein bar from her food pantry from her ninja pack. "Here!' She said tossing one to each of them. "Eat those."

"What are these?" Naruto asked groggily.

"Protein bars. They're good for building up your strength and energy, so they work as energy bars as well." Chouko said already having eaten half of hers.

Sakura glared at the snack. "Kakashi-Sensei said we weren't allowed to eat anything or else we'd throw up!" She placed her hands on her hips and glared down at Chouko. "You just want us to get in trouble!"

"Kakashi-Sensei is a liar." Chouko glared at Sakura. "There is no way we'd be able to function as a unit with no energy. So shut up, and eat." She gave Sakura a look that left no room for argument as she shoved another bar into her hands. "You especially need these."

"Ramen would be better..." Naruto grumbled and tore into his protein bar. "Hey - these are really good!"

Chouko grinned. "Of course they're good! They're specially made by the Akimichi Clan, and we know how to make even the healthiest of things taste amazing!" All except for herself. Chouko thinks that she inherited the inability to cook form one of her parents. What else could the reason be?

Sasuke looked down at his suspiciously, eventually peeling back the wrapper and taking a bite. "Thanks." He nodded at Chouko once he figured they weren't filled with poison.

"No problem." She blinked.

Sasuke had manners? Who knew!

"I shouldn't. I'm on a diet." Sakura frowned.

"What - _why?!_ " Chouko was flabbergasted. "What reason do you have to go on a diet? You're absolutely perfect just the way you are, idiot. Now suck it up and shove that protein bar down your throat; you don't need to be fainting from a lack of food and energy." Chouko scoffed shoving the rest of her protein bar in her mouth.

Diet? The words were poison to Chouko's tongue. If she were to even mention the word diet to anyone in her clan they would think she had gone insane. Food was the heart of the Akimichi clan and made them who they were. Sometimes Chouko felt silly for feeling bad about herself and her appearance when in the eye of her clan she was perfect; the larger you are, the stronger you're believed to become. In the case of the Akimichi clan, size really did matter.

Sakura had always been too fussy about her appearance, even though Chouko thought she looked just fine the way she was, large forehead and all. She even found herself at times feeling envious of her and wished that she could have her confidence and looks.

Sakura's eyes widened as a blush overtook her face. She quickly looked away and shyly tore open her protein bar. She gave it a sniff before taking a small nibble. Her eyes widened as the strawberry flavored overwhelmed her sense; her favorite flavor.

Did she remember something as small as that?

Chouko smiled watching her eat in in silence. Sakura didn't say anything more, but Chouko considered it a short-lived victory.

* * *

Kakashi let out an amused chuckle watching the four of them from a distance.

"Maybe they aren't hopeless after all." His eyes zoomed in on Chouko who was watching her comrades with a pleased smile on his face. "One of them anyway."

* * *

It was hours later when Kakashi-Sensei decided to show his face to the group. "Good morning everyone!" Kakashi greeted cheerily as if he wasn't late.

"You're late!" Sakura and Naruto shouted.

"Hey, Sensei, why bother telling us to be here at a certain time if you aren't going to bother showing up?" Chouko huffed. "Don't you think that's setting a poor example?" Chouko grumbled thoroughly annoyed by his lack of time management.

Kakashi smiled at her under his mask. "Well, Chouko, you see a black cat crossed my path, leaving me no choice but to take the long way." Kakashi's one visible eye closed with a smile.

Chouko felt like punching him for having the nerve to tell her such a blatant lie.

"Well then, let's get started." Kakashi walked towards a tree stump and sat a medium black clock on it, "Here we go. It's set for noon." He pressed the gold button on top of it. Then from his pocket, Kakashi pulled out three silver bells and gave them a quick jingle. "Your assignment is very simple, you just have to take these bells from me, that's all there is to it." He jingled the bells once more.

Chouko narrowed her eyes. She had a feeling there was lost more to it than just that.

"If you can't get them by noon you go without lunch." Kakashi eyed the group. Chouko was leaned back with a smirk on her face while Naruto was laughing. Sakura seemed overly nervous and Sasuke was smirking. "You'll be tied to those posts and you'll watch while I eat my lunch in front of you." Kakashi pointed to four posts in the distance.

"Wait a minute there's four of us! How come there are only three bells?" Sakura held up three fingers.

Kakashi chuckled. "Well, that way at least one of you will end up tied to a post and ultimately disqualified for failing to complete the mission. That one goes back to the academy." He said that all with a smile that made Chouko sick to her stomach.

"You have to be kidding me!" Chouko groaned.

"Nope. Can't say that I'm sorry, either." Kakashi shrugged. "Then again, all four of you could flunk out too," He eyed all of them, "You can use any weapons including shuriken and kunai; if you aren't prepared to kill me, you won't be able to take the bells."

"Those weapons are too dangerous Sensei!" Sakura cried with her arms spread.

"Especially since you couldn't even dodge that eraser!" Naruto laughed loudly.

"It's not wise to taunt your superior, Naruto." Chouko sighed.

"Class clowns are usually the weakest links. You can safely ignore them, lowest scores, losers." Kakashi stared at them for a moment. "Now when I say start you may begin."

Chouko watched Naruto from the corner of her eye with a twitching sensation. Naruto's lips were pulled into a tight-lipped frown and his fingers were twitching rapidly. Just as he broke his composure she reached out and grabbed him by the back of his jacket, and pulled the kunai from his hand that he was ready to attack Kakashi-Sensei with; she pinned him to the ground with one arm behind his back, and her other hand placed firmly on his head.

"Jeez, Naruto! Don't rush into things so carelessly you fool!" She sighed. "Kakashi-Sensei didn't say start yet. Just calm down." She released her hold on him. "Don't let his words get to you, Naruto. You're so much better than that and you know it."

"R-right." Naruto put his kunai away and backed away with a faint blush on his cheeks.

The words repeated in Naruto's head, lighting the blond's face with a smile.

Kakashi had been impressed with how quickly she reacted. One of her talents listed in her files was that she was nimble, and showed acrobatic grace, which had taken him by surprise. It wasn't something commonly found among members of the Akimichi clan who mostly relied on brute force and using their body mass to overwhelm their opponents.

"You tried to come at me with the intent to kill." Kakashi smiled through his mask, "I'm actually starting to like you guys."

"Not enough to show up on time though, right, Sensei?" Chouko chided.

Kakashi sweat-dropped. Her mouth was going to be trouble.

"Get ready... _start!_ "

* * *

Everyone immediately split up and hid from Kakashi-Sensei's view. Chouko had hidden high but kept low enough to keep an eye out for the others while keeping track of Kakashi's position. She could see Sasuke a few branches below her and Sakura down on the ground using a bush as cover. The only one she was having trouble location was Naruto.

"Where is he?" Chouko hummed frustratedly. She searched the training ground for her target and found him. Chouko mentally scowled at Naruto who stood with his arms crossed in front of Kakashi Sensei.

He was her best friend. She loves him dearly. But by god, he could be an absolute idiot!

"You and me, Sensei! Right now! Let's go!" Naruto shouted at Kakashi.

Did he really think he could take him on by himself? It was possible! In fact, none of them stood a chance in hell against a Jonin level ninja! There was no possible way unless...

Chouko mentally smacked herself.

 _'Of-freaking-course! On our very own we don't stand a chance in hell against him, but if we all work together we might just be able to beat him! That's gotta be it. The whole point of this lesson is about teamwork!'_ Chouko grinned to herself and got to work thinking of a game plan.

"You know compared to the others, you're a little bit...weird," Kakashi said with a sweatdrop.

"Oh yeah? The only thing weird here is your haircut!" Naruto shouted and charged at Kakashi.

The Jonin made no effort to move and instead reached into his weapons pouch. Chouko stiffened. Naruto didn't stand a chance in hell against Kakashi and whatever the hell he was planning!

Naruto suddenly stopped and jumped back, glaring suspiciously at the Jonin.

"Shinobi battle techniques." Kakashi looked up at the sky as he spoke. "Part one: Taijutsu. The physical art."

"Taijutsu is hand to hand combat! So why is he reaching for..."

The concern Chouko felt was quickly replaced by the dropping of her jaw. She stared disdainfully at the little orange book Kakashi-Sensei had pulled out and cradled between his fingers. She couldn't believe that he actually read that crap! Chouko was only familiar with the book because Asuma-Sensei had the collectors edition and she had once accidentally looked inside it thinking it held some cool ninja knowledge; she's never regretted anything more in life.

There are some things that aren't mean to be seen by the ninja's eye.

Chouko shuddered.

"What the fuck?!" Naruto shouted.

"What are you waiting for? Make your move." Kakashi shrugged while skimming over the inked pages.

"But, I mean, why are you reading that book?!" Naruto asked confused.

"Why? To find out what happens in the story of course! Don't let it bother you though. With your weak attacks, it doesn't really matter if I'm reading or...whatever." Kakashi trailed off flipping to the next page.

Naruto screamed and charged the Jonin with a withdrawn fist. Kakashi was quick to counter all of his attacks, never once blinking, never once breaking a sweat. Chouko watched with wide, starry eyes as Kakashi-Sensei suddenly appeared behind Naruto if a flash of smoke with his hands locked in a seal.

"Get back, Naruto!" Chouko yelled and jumped down from her hiding spot in the tree.

Reaching into her kuna pouch she grabbed a handful of shuriken that she quickly tossed at the jonin who easily dodged them all, leaving them stuck in the ground. With Kakashi being temporarily distracted she rushed to Naruto and grabbed him by the sleeve of his jacket; she yanked him backward, hands firmly placed on her hips.

"Naruto!" She hissed. "You can't just go rushing into battle!" Chouko yelled.

"B-bu-tt!"

"No, Naruto! You need to _think_ before you go rushing into action." Chouko glared. "I'm not going to just stand back and let you get yourself killed, you moron!"

She regretted her choice of words as soon as she saw him flinch away from her.

"Listen, Naruto, play time is over now...this isn't the academy anymore, and things are going to start to get dangerous; it's time to grow up." She frowned at him. "I don't want to lose my best friend." Chouko sighed.

It took a minute before the words clicked in his head. When he finally realized the weight of her words, he latched himself onto her with tears and snot running down his face.

"You're not going to lose me Chouko! Believe it! I'll try harder, really, I promise!" Naruto sobbed making Chouko laugh lightly.

Chouko sighed. "Okay then. Then listen to me, Naruto, the only way we're passing this stupid test is if we all pull our heads together and use team-"

"I see you've figured it out. _Clever girl._ "

Chouko shivered to feel Kakashi's breath on her neck. A shiver ran down her spine as she slowly spun around and came face to face with the masked jonin. "Uh...hi?" She nervously squeaked pushing Naruto behind her.

"Never let your enemy get behind you~" Kakashi sang rather eerily.

Kakashi grabbed the genin by her arm and twisted it behind her, his leg swiped beneath her knocking her to the ground and giving her a face full of dirt.

"Isn't that one of the first things they teach you in the academy, Chouko?" He smiled down at the struggling girl. "Better luck next time."

 _'Just perfect! Now, what the hell do I do!? Man, this is so embarrassing!'_ Chouko internally groaned.

It was humiliating knowing that Sakura was probably laughing her ass off and Sasuke probably thought she was a big loser than he already did. Chouko scowled trying to shake the jonin off of her, who only hummed and pressed her face further into the dirt while chuckling behind his mask.

Why the hell wasn't her teammates helping her?! Hadn't they figured out what the lesson what about by now?!

 _'Why would they save someone like you? Someone of such little insignificance.'_ Her inner voice said to her. Cackling at her within the deepest and darkest depths of her mind.

 _Not now._

She could deal with her self-brooding thoughts later!

Chouko stopped struggling and groaned into the dirt her face was shoved into. _"Get off me already!"_ She mumbled with a mouthful of dirt and grime that made the jonin above her chuckle.

"I think I like you better this way." Kakashi chirped. "You're much more pleasant when you're not speaking."

Chouko swore under her breath; her Sensei is a dick.

* * *

Chouko wanted to believe that her gut feeling was wrong, but she knew that somehow, this was all going to turn into one big failure. Naruto was left hanging upside from a tree, while Sakura was somewhere unconscious from a faint attack, and Sasuke was buried deep in the earth with only his head sticking out which was the reason behind Sakura's fainting.

Chouko was hiding in a tree and was trying to come up with a way to turn this situation around for them. They didn't have much time left – that much she knew -so they'd have to be quick if they wanted to get at least one of those bells.

The question is, who did she turn to for help?

Chouko leaped from the tree she had been stationed in and ran in the Uchiha's direction. Once she located him she dropped to her knees and started clawing at the dirt in an attempt to unbury him.

"Listen to me Sasuke, when I get you unburied you have to go cut Naruto down and wake up Sakura."

"We need to get a bell, Chouko. Not worry about those two losers." Sasuke scowled at her. "They're only going to hold us back and you know it."

"You're wrong!" Chouko glared. "The whole point of this stupid test is teamwork. If we want to even get one of those bells were going to have to work together."

"Then why do I have to go after those two?" He narrowed his eyes.

"Because I'm going to distract Kakashi-Sensei!" Chouko said. "And while I'm doing that you guys are going to go after the bells. He won't be able to stop all of us."

"Whatever." Though he was rolling his eye there was a hint of a smirk on his face.

Once he was unburied Chouko gave him a hand and helped him out but in return, she was shoved to the ground as Sasuke took off to do his own thing.

"H-Hey! Sasuke! _Are you fucking kidding me?!_ "

Chouko was ready to give up.

* * *

Kakashi was standing in the middle of the forest with a bored expression and book in hand, "I didn't think you'd ever show up." He said with what looked to be a smile.

So he had been expecting her?

Chouko glared at him and positioned herself in a fighting stance. She had no real plan...but she had to do something, right? If her team wouldn't work together then she'd do it herself, and get their damn bells for them.

"Well, what are you waiting for?" Kakashi hummed, skimming through his book. "Time is starting to run out and you haven't made very much progress."

Chouko scowled. "I'm aware of that." She said hotly under her breath. "Neh, Sensei, aren't you supposed to be some super elite ninja? But really, you're just a lazy pervert, aren't you?" Chouko glared at the orange book he held dearly. "Asuma-Sensei reads those books too you know. The writing is absolute garbage. I can't even begin to imagine what the person who wrote them is like! The characters are so bland and cliche, and it's full of overused tropes and garbage plot points."

For a moment Kakashi lost all motor function in his brain. "Y-Y-ou've read them?..." He asked with a disbelievable stutter.

Chouko's face turned red. "W-What?! Gross! No way! It was a total accident! So don't go getting any perverted thoughts about me, Sensei!" Chouko yelled with a heavy blush covering her chubby cheeks. "I have better things to do than read some cheesy porn book!"

Chouko lunged at Kakashi in a mad dash that had her skidding past the jonin as he effortlessly turned out of the way. Chouko spun on her heel drawing a kunai from her pouch and turned to strike, only to meet a block of wood as Kakashi disappeared into thin air.

 _Substitution Jutsu._

Chouko's eyes widened as she felt the ghost of a breath on her neck. She swiftly turned around and caught the kunai pointed at her throat. Kakashi stood smiling at her looking unfazed. Chouko scowled and cocked her arm back before throwing it forward into the air, as Kakashi again, disappeared.

 _Clone Jutsu._

Chouko grew annoyed believing Kakashi-Sensei was only playing games and not taking her seriously; he wasn't. Why should he? She's a low-level genin, with no real combat experience, riding off the high of her anger and frustrations and not thinking clearly.

Chouko performed a backward handspring just as Kakashi-Sensei had reappeared, moving rapidly towards her with quick jabs that she could barely keep up with. The moment she had taken her eyes off him he had delivered a devastating blow straight into the core of her gut that launched her in the air, followed by the jonin grabbing her by the wrist and twisting that made her cry out in alarm and pain. Chouko flipped mid-air and was sent spiraling into the ground with a loud crash that shook the area around them.

Chouko groaned as an aching sensation washed over her; her body tingled and refused to move, exhausted, and thoroughly beaten.

What...the hell just happened?

 _'I got my ass kicked.'_ Chouko answered her thoughts.

"Nice try. I give you an A for effort for a rather mediocore performance" He said, ruffling her hair. "And I'll have you know that Icha Icha Paradise is a passionate tale of a fiery love between a man and a woman with undertones of humor and enjoyable slice of life moments."

Chouko sweatdropped. Was he really going to go into a full-blown review of his stupid book?

Despite her situation, she smirked.

"Neh, Neh, Sensei, maybe if you focused on finding a real flesh and blood woman, then you wouldn't have to read such cheesy porn books, yeah?" Chouko snickered.

Kakashi sighed. "You really are a pain in the ass, you know that?" He said before knocking her unconscious with a strike to the back of the head with what she knew was a cocky smirk on his dumb, masked face.

Her Sensei was a dick but was undeniably a skilled jonin.

...And pretty cool, too.

She'd burn in hell before she admitted that to his face.

* * *

Not even ten minutes later did Chouko find herself tied to the promised post that Kakashi-Sensei had warned them about. Her mouth was gagged and she just knew it was a meant to add insult to injury. It wasn't even fair that she was tied to the post since she had tried to do everything right! She repeatedly slammed her head against the wooden post asking the Gods above what she had done to deserve everything happening to her now.

"You guys look really hungry!" Kakashi-Sensei gleefully taunted them. Chouko's stomach growled on cue making her groan. "Oh, by the way, the result of this training session is in and...none of you will be returning to the ninja academy."

Chouko perked up a little. Was it all a ruse then or?...

Sakura blinked. "What? But all I did was scream and faint. That was really okay?" She asked.

"Then does that mean?..." Naruto trailed off already becoming tearful.

Sasuke and Chouko were silent. Something felt off.

"Yup! You four should pursue different careers because you're not cut out to be a ninja." His voice was even and his eyes sharp. "All of you are just a bunch of little punks who don't deserve to be a ninja."

"Quit being ninja?!" Naruto yelled. "What the hell is that supposed to mean, huh?!"

Chouko clicked her tongue and used it to push the gag out of her mouth. "We weren't able to get the bell - _I get that!_ But that doesn't mean that we should have to throw away everything we've worked so hard to achieve!" She yelled with tears brimming her eyes; why had she worked so hard just to be told she failed?!

"Let me say it again: none of you deserve to be a ninja," Kakashi repeated.

Chouko didn't even have the energy to sigh as Sasuke charged at Kakashi with a kunai drawn. He had been pinned down rather quickly and was left squirming under Kakashi-Sensei's hold.

"See? You're all just no-good kids." Kakashi sighed.

"DON'T STEP ON SASUKE!" Sakura shrieked.

"Do you all think being a ninja is easy?" Kakashi-Sensei asked sharply. "Why do you think you were divided into teams and are doing this training?"

Chouko hung her head with a defeated sigh.

"What do you mean?" Sakura questioned.

"In other words, three of you didn't understand the value of this test." Kakashi eyed the solemn Akimichi in the front. "Only one of you was able to determine the answer to this pass or fail test..."

"Only one?" Sakura whispered.

She looked from Naruto and Sasuke and then finally Chouko, who was silently crying with gritted teeth.

"Geez, are your brains empty? You really don't understand why you're in a group?" Kakashi said.

"What's the big deal about people being in a group?!" Naruto yelled. "Are you going to tell us or what!?"

"Teamwork." He said sternly. "The four of you working together _may_ have gotten the bells. That's too bad."

Sakura blinked and thought for a minute. "Wait a minute! What's the point in teamwork when there are only three bells? Even if we were to work together and get the bells, one of us would still fail! A group conflict would surely occur instead of teamwork." She yelled jumping to her feet in defense of herself.

Chouko sighed drawing their attention. "That's the whole point, Sakura. The point of the test is to purposefully pit us all against one another. The purpose is to see whether we can prioritize teamwork before ourselves...but obviously, we found out that answer."

Chouko scowled. She had tried getting them to listen to her all afternoon but not one of them had - _not even Naruto!_ It was incredibly frustrating to know that she couldn't even depend on the people she was supposed to trust her lives with, in a basic training exercise.

"Sakura! You were only concerned about Sasuke even when you didn't know where he was." Kakashi barked. "You didn't even care about Naruto who was right beside you the whole time! You were too focused on Sasuke and your own selfishness!"

Sakura blushed hanging her head.

"Naruto! The whole time you were just running around by yourself." Kakashi said. "There were several times were Chouko had to step in and intervene to stop you from getting yourself hurt, and in the end, you still ignored everything she had to say and acted without thought!"

Naruto gasped and looked to Chouko who was eying the ground with half-lidded eyes.

"Sasuke!" Kakashi glared at the boy pinned beneath him. "You labeled the others as hindrances and acted as on your own. You assumed the others would just get in your way, and even turned your back on your teammate when she reached out to you for help; the worst thing you can do in a situation like this."

Sasuke twitched underneath the jonin gritting his teeth.

Kakashi sighed. "Chouko!" He called, startling the girl who refused to look at him. "You tried to get your teammates to work together, and for that I applaud you, but when you deemed everything hopeless you gave up and started acting brash; there were several times where you let your guard down and I was able to ambush you."

Chouko bit the fat of her lip fully aware of the fact she was crying.

"The duties of the village are done by a squad," Kakashi said. "There's no mistaking that ninjas need unsurpassed individual skills...but what's even more important is "Teamwork". Individual actions like you all carried out today can disrupt your teamwork and throw your comrades into crisis and even death."

Chouko stiffened at the thought of one of her teammates dying because of her.

"For example..." Kakashi reached inside of his ninja pouch and pulled out a kunai. "Sakura! Kill Naruto, or else Sasuke dies!"

"What?!" They - including Chouko - yelled.

"You see? In the event of a hostage situation, you are faced with two impossible choices and end up being killed." Their Sensei said as he twirled his kunai before stuffing it back into his pouch. "Every mission is a life-risking assignment.

Kakashi got off of Sasuke but the genin hesitated to move. He beckoned them towards a stone that was filled with names.

"Looks at this, the numerous names carved onto this stone," Kakashi said somberly. Chouko frowned picking up the sadness hidden in his voice. "These are all ninja who is called heroes in the village."

"That-that-that-that! I like thaaat!" Naruto yelled. "I've decided to get my name carved on that stone too! Hero! That's what I'll become! I'm not going to die like some kind of dog!"

"Naruto!" Chouko snapped. "Your name will never be on the stone!" She hissed, eyes wide and full of furry as she stared down the confused blond.

"Huh, but why?" He asked innocently. "Don't you believe I can do it?"

Chouko sighed and shook her head.

"These aren't normal heroes." Kakashi sighed.

"Then what kind of heroes are they?!" Naruto shouted excitedly. He wanted to be a cool hero, too!

"They are heroes who were killed in action."

"K-Killed in action?" Naruto gulped.

"It means they died in battle, Naruto." Sakura frowned. "This is a memorial to them."

The atmosphere around them grew heavy with the thickness of melancholy. The five of them shared a moment of silence as they remember the lives of the heroes who fought dutifully for their village, and never returned.

"My parents' names are on there..." Chouko whispered. "Akimichi Cho-Hei and Akimichi Chisato; two brave souls, who gave their lives to protect the village they loved dearly, and the daughter they never got to knew."

The silence thickended. Guilt wrecked their stomachs.

"The names of my friends are also engraved on here," Kakashi said breaking the silence. "I'll give you one more chance. However, afternoon it will be a harsher battle to take the bell. Those who still wish to challenge can eat lunch. But, don't give any to Chouko."

"Eh?!" Chouko's eye twitched. "S-Seriously, Sensei? Isn't that kind of unfair?" The Akimichi's stomach grumbled in response. The gingerette groaned and slammed her head against the post. "Fine, sure, whatever! I don't even care."

Her stomach rumbled again. Chouko scowled and told it to shut up.

 _'You cause me enough issues!'_

"Consider it your punishment for being a mouthy little brat." Kakashi smiled through his mask. Chouko doubted that. She knew that it was really because she insulted his dumb book. "Anyone caught giving food to Chouko will be disqualified on the spot," Kakashi said while handing out everyone's bento boxes. "I am the rules here. Got it?"

Chouko was right all along.

This day turned out to be utter hell.

* * *

Chouko stiffly sat with her back to the post and her bottom planted on the ground, enviously watching as her team enjoyed their delicious smelling lunches. Her stomach roared at every given chance, demanding a sacrificial offering of food that she wasn't allowed to have.

Naruto looked at her pitifully. He looked from his lunch to Chouko who was trying her hardest not to let her hunger show. He opened his mouth but was silenced by Chouko shaking her head and grinning largely at him.

"I'm fine Naruto - really, I am! This is no sweat at all!" Chouko laughed. Her stomach disagreed. "Uhh...ignore that, that's just from some bad ramen I ate last night! It was really bad so I've been having really bad stomach aches all day! Yeah, that's it..."

No one believed her.

Sasuke looked at the quivering Akimichi while remembering the days earlier events. He sighed and held his bento box out to her. "Here." He said, shoving it in her face. "Eat this so your stomach will shut up."

"H-Hey Sasuke! Sensei said that!..." Sakura said, trailing off in search of Kakashi-Sensei.

"It's okay. There's no sign of him now." Sasuke said. "After the lunch, the four of us are going to work together to take the bells like we were originally supposed to do. Without food, she'll just be in the way and that will only hurt us."

"S-Sasuke!" Chouko's eyes widened. _'Never knew he had it in him to care about someone other than himself.'_ She thought with a sad smile.

"Hey! I'm the one who is going to feed Chouko, believe it!" Naruto pointed angrily at Sasuke. "She's my best friend and you're just trying to steal her, aren't you?!"

"That's not it at all, you moron!" Sasuke yelled back prompting an argument between the two.

Sakura looked down at her own bento before a determined expression took over her face. She picked up her bento and sat down in front of Chouko with puffed cheeks and a light blush. "Here, Chouko." She said shoving the box forward. "Hurry up and eat it before Sensei comes back."

Chouko stared at her.

"What? Just eat it already!" Sakura yelled.

"No." Chouko glared at her. "You need it more, idiot! And don't you dare even give me that diet excuse because I thought I already told you, that you're perfectly fine just the way -"

 _"SHUT UP AND EAT!"_

Sakura growled shoving a chopstick full of rice into Chouko's mouth. The Akimichi gagged and forcefully swallowed the lump of rice that was actually quite good. She bet that her mother made it. Sakura had parents who were wonderful at cooking.

'You could be more gentle." Chouko blushed. "But...I appreciate it, so, thanks." She said, looking away bashfully. "You can be cool sometimes I guess..."

"Just sometimes?" Sakura smirked.

The two shared a smile before realizing it and quickly looking away. Sakura was preparing another bite for Chouko when a thick cloud of smoke filled the area and their lungs; Sakura gagged fanning the smoke away from her and the bound Akimich's face.

"What is this?!" Kakashi yelled. "You went and defiled my rules so you know what is coming!..." He said as he prepared hand signs that formed a heavy stormcloud above them black a night.

Lightning rumbled around them and shook the area with a ferociousness that Chouko had never seen before.

"Do you have anything to say?" He asked the shaking genin.

Chouko gulped. "It's not their fault, Sensei! They were just trying to help me!" Chouko yelled. "You have to punish me instead of -"

"No, that's not how it works." Sasuke cut her off. "We're a four-man squad, right?" Sasuke smirked at Kakashi. "Iruka warned us that we were going to have our troubles cut out for us."

"That's right! The four of us are one, so you can't punish one of us for looking out for the other!" Sakura nodded.

"That's right! That's right! That's right!" Naruto yelled. "You better believe that we're a team and that we're going to look out for each other regardless of what you say Sensei! Right, Chouko?!"

Chouko looked away from her grinning teammates with watery eyes. "Man, you guys are so damn corny." She sniffled. "But yeah! Their right! How can you expect us to just sit back why our comrade is suffering?! It's unconventional and goes against everything you just told us, Sensei! It's like..."

Chouko gasped.

Then sweatdropped.

And finally, sent a pointed glare at their Sensei that just screamed: _"I hate you, asshole!"_

"Oh, is that so?" Kakashi-Sensei asked as he crouched in front of them who all crowded around Chouko ready to defend her. "Well, then, you pass!" Kakashi said with a closed-eye smile and his hands held in the shape of a heart; Chouko wanted to vomit.

All four of their faces were bewildered as they stared at their Sensei like some kind of alien species.

"We passed? Why?" Sakura asked puzzled.

"You guys are the first," Kakashi said as the sky above them cleared to reveal fat, puffy clouds that Chouko temporarily got lost in; she wondered if Shikamaru saw them too. "Up until now, it was just dunces who would meekly listen to what I said. They were just a bunch of morons. All ninja must see underneath the underneath. Listen to my next words closely, you four."

Chouko leaned forwards having broken away from the clouds. She listened closely, wondering what their Sensei was going to tell them, unaware that it would forever change the path of her future as a ninja.

 _ **"In the ninja world, those who break the rules are trash, that's true, but those who abandon their comrades are worse than trash."**_

Chouko looked down at the ground with a soft smile on her face. There was no chance in hell that she would ever abandon her friends, even if they did get on her nerves like no other.

"He's...he's...kind of cool," Naruto said with watery eyes. Chouko agreed with him.

"That's the end of the training!" Kakashi stuck up a thumb. "You all pass. Team Seven starts their first mission tomorrow!"

"Yes, Sir!" Sakura and Chouko chirped.

"I did it! I'm a ninja! I'm a ninja!" Naruto cheered tearfully. Sasuke looked at him with a sigh, but there was no ill intention behind it; he too was happy, just more subtle than the others.

"Let's go home!' Kakashi chirped walking ahead with a chittering Naruto and smirking Sasuke.

Chouko stared at them. They weren't really leaving...were they? Okay, Naruto she could believe would be simple enough to forget her...Sasuke too, maybe...

But Kakashi?

 _No chance in hell._

"HEY! WHAT THE HELL WAS ALL THAT CRAP ABOUT TEAMWORK WHEN YOU JUST GO AND LEAVE ME BEHIND, YOU ASSHOLES?!" Chouko yelled trying to reach her kunai pouch; the ropes were snuggled secured and refused to budge.

Chouko cursed Kakashi's name under her breath and hoped that the jonin suffered greatly in terms of a little orange book suddenly combusting into flames.

"Would you calm down and stop struggling? How am I supposed to untie you if you keep fidgeting? Jeez."

Chouko stopped. She was surprised to find that Sakura had stayed back. She was sure that she would have taken off after Sasuke in a desperate attempt to get him to go on a date with her, or something.

"Just about...there! You're free now, so quit your harping." Sakura smirked, holding up the broken rope.

Chouko sighed happily and stretched her achy bones. She glanced at Sakura with a blush. "Thanks, again, I guess." She pouted. "I could have probably gotten myself out of there, eventually." She huffed knowing it was a bluff.

"Consider this my way of apologizing...for today, I mean. Don't think this makes us friends or anything, Akimichi!" She yelled with a pointed finger.

Chouko laughed. "You and I? Friends? Wouldn't dream of it, Haruno." She said, walking away with a wave. "See ya later. You might still be able to catch up with Sasuke if you try hard enough!"

Sakura's eyes widened as a shrill squeal tore throughout the training grounds. _"SASUUUUUKEEEEE! WAIT FOR ME!"_ Sakura cried dashing off in the Uchiha's direction.

Chouko frowned.

In all honesty...

She really did want to be her friend.

* * *

Chouko sat in a field of tall grass surrounded by flowers and a veil of trees that stretched into the heavens. She sat with her legs crossed and arms folded neatly in her lap, one hand cupping the other; the wind rustled around her softly, caressing her face as the fallen leaves of the trees danced around her in a hypnotic dance. Her eyes were shut tightly and her body was relaxed as she focused on her surroundings and breathed easily, never moving an inch, the only sound coming from her were the softs sound of her breathing.

Chouko inhaled and exhaled in slow sessions. She felt the movement passing through her body from her head to her shoulders, as well as her chest and belly; her attention to her surroundings drifted to the creaking of the branches as they swayed in the afternoon wind to the tune of the songs the birds were chattering.

She drifted away from the forest and to the stream of gentle water that ran through the meadow fields. The sound of the babbling brook brought a sense of comfort and ease to her that was welcomed after a long, and tiresome day. She contemplated breaking her meditative trance to peer up at the unending crystal-blue sky, sprinkled with cotton candy clouds and peaks of sunshine; streaked with soaring birds, and the squeaking chatter that followed them.

Maybe she would dip her feet into the ebbing water, where a fresh batch of the cutest yellow ducklings she had ever seen, recently made their home.

Chouko believed that every ninja and civilian in the world had a place to call their own, where they could go and forget the world around them; Shikamaru had the grassy hill with the best view of the clouds, for example. But this place - this little meadow hidden within the hidden is her special place - where she comes to clear her mind and forget the world around her.

The one place she truly feels at peace.

It had become a ritual for her to come to meditate and train. After meditating to clear her head she would work on her stretches and then ease into her daily training routine. Chouko inhaled and exhaled once more, feeling the tension leave her body as she clapped her hands together, and allowed her eyes to flutter open to being greeted by the afternoon sun.

Chouko smiled to herself and pulled her ginger hair into a tight, short ponytail that sat lop-sided against her head. Chouko's eyes burned with a newfound fire as she stretched out her muscles; she slowly fell into a position of one leg pressed forward and the other bent backward as she leaned forward with her hands pressed tightly together. The position was far from comfortable and her joints and muscles groaned in protest as the sweat gathered on her forehead, but Chouko pressed on, holding the position for a solid minute before releasing.

She thinks back to her earlier days in the academy where they would all whine and protest whenever they had to do their daily stretches and warm-ups, and laughs, realizing how silly she had been. Stretching is an essential part of training her body, allowing her to increase her overall flexibility and accomplish more without getting tired too fast. It also helped with preventing injuries to her joints with the strain of training and helping better her posture which admittedly, wasn't the greatest.

At times, she would stick a leaf to her forehead while training, to focus on her concentration and push herself a little bit harder; it wasn't the most difficult task in the world, but sometimes her mind liked to wonder, so it always helped to keep her focused on those days where her mind seemed too clouded for her own good.

Chouko spent around thirty minutes doing her stretches before deciding to move onto something else. She patted her double ninja packs that were stuffed with many ninja tools such a kunai, shuriken, makibishi spikes, and much, much more - a weapon nut, Asuma had called her. Chouko couldn't disagree with him. She had always had a slight obsession and fascination with weapons, and began collecting them at an early age; she had a wide variety of tools and trinkets in her collection that she took pride in.

Chouko stared out in the distance of the meadow where a set of crudely made, wooden dummies stood, teetering on their flimsy sticks that barely supported their bodies made of fallen logs. She had made them help with her target practice, but they were beginning to wear and would soon wither into dust. It made her sad, as she had spent a lot of time making them just right and impaling them with her weapons; she'd miss them.

Her hand had just wrapped around a kunai when the air around her stilled, and the natures remedy that had filled her ears until that point stopped, and the echo of fallen twigs snapping on the ground brought her attention back to reality as she gripped the kunai tightly, and spun around to strike the one who dares try to sneak up on her...

...Only to fall flat as she stared into the wide eyes of Uzumaki Naruto, who looked on the verge of tears with the sharpened blade pointed directly at his throat that bobbled, with every swallow he managed through quivering lips.

"H-Hey! Take it easy Chouko! It's me, Naruto! The future Hokage, and your best friend who you would never stab, he-he-he, eh, r-right?"

Chouko stared at the boy for a solid minute before dropping her kunai with a sigh. "Naruto...how did you even find me?" She asked, knowing that she had never shown Naruto this spot before.

As much as she loved him, there were times where she desired to be alone.

Naruto scratched his cheek and pointed behind him to where Sakura and Sasuke stood. "Sakura showed us! We looked all over for you and couldn't find you anywhere, so Sakura lead us here! She said that you would definitely be here and I guess she was right!" Naruto smiled and nodded as the pieces clicked together.

This didn't surprise Chouko. The only other people who knew of this spot were Sakura and Ino. It was a place they came when they were younger, to pick flowers and play; their own little world, they would say. Chouko frowned at the memories of three little girls sitting in a field of flowers, making crowns and ragging on the boys of their class and discussing their dreams for the future.

What happened to all of that? How did it ever get to this point?

Chouko sighed and tucked her kunai back into her pouch. "You were looking for me, huh? You sure weren't thinking about me when you left me tied to that post, Naruto." Chouko poked his chest with a visible pout. "How the hell could you just leave me behind like that, huh?!"

"It was an accident, really! I was so excited about the mission and then I got hungry and started thinking about ramen and, well, ya know..."

The blond chuckled sheepishly as Chouko hung her head. She feared that there would be a day to come where Naruto would be forced to pick her or ramen, and honestly, she wasn't sure which one he would choose, but it left a bad feeling in her stomach.

Sakura clicked her tongue and smacked her fist over Naruto's head. "Idiot! Do you ever think with your brain and not your stomach?!" She glared, hands on her hips and firm glare on her face.

Chouko's eye twitched.

"Anyway, we were looking for you because...we wanted to apologize, for everything that happened earlier. We should have listened to what you were saying." Sakura grumbled, a heavy blush on her pale cheeks. "S-So I'm - errr, I mean - we're sorry, okay?"

The pinkette finished with a sigh that had Chouko grinning. She'd never admit that it brought her a sense of joy to see Sakura have to push aside her pride.

"Oh yeah?" She looked over at Sasuke who had one hand tucked in his pocket while the other held a small pink box. "You too, Sasuke? Wow. I'm flattered, really." Chouko grinned, enjoying the way his eye and body twitched. "The great Uchiha Sasuke cares about little Akimichi Chouko - who have ever guessed!"

Sasuke scowled and turned his head away from her. Is her blushing? _Hah!_ The bastard does have feelings.

Sasuke clicked his tongue and thrust the pink box into her face. "Take this, dobe. Consider it an apology gift from all of us, or whatever." He said, letting his free hand fall into his other pocket.

Chouko blinked. "A gift?" She mused opening the lid. "You really didn't have to go out of your way and - _DANGO?!_ "Chouko squealed, eyeing the colorful dumplings strewn on a stick. "Ah, mochi, too?!" She drooled, eyeing the plump little cakes.

"We got them from that really fancy bakery that you're always eyeing!" Naruto grinned. "It was really expensive so I hope they don't taste like shit!"

"NARUTO!" Sakura scolded slapping her head.

"You idiot." Sasuke scowled. "That's not the point." He rolled his eyes and looked back to Chouko who had stuffed a ball of mochi into her mouth; her fat cheeks were puffed out, and she practical stars shining in her eyes as tears collected like raindrops in her vision.

Sasuke twitched. He felt this was going to become a habit around these three.

Chouko swallowed the lump of cake and gave a wobbly smile. "It tastes amazing! Uh, thanks, guys. It really wasn't necessary though." Chouko said. "I wasn't exactly perfect either, and could have done a lot more, but I gave up when it got too hard." Chouko clenched her fist and stared at the ground.

She had to do better next time.

Sakura sighed. "There's no use sitting around and playing the blame game. We're all just going to have to do a lot better from now on, right? We're a team now, and that means we have to look out for each other." Sakura smiled and held out her pink to the confused trio. "Let's make a promise, okay? That from now on we'll do our best to get stronger and become the kind of ninja that Kakashi-Sensei is."

Chouko cringed. "If we leave out the perverted part, then I guess I can agree to that." She said, stepping forward and holding out her pinky...she hesitated, before curling it around Sakuras. Their eyes met, and they shared a small smile.

"I'm going to become an even better ninja than Sensei, believe it!" Naruto yelled joining in. "I have to do better because one day I'm going to become the Hokage and everyone is going to respect me and look up to me, right, Chouko?" Naruto said excitedly while wrapping his pinky around Chouko and Sakuras.

"That's right! Everyone trust their lives to the Hokage, and they'll be counting on you to lead them and protect them, Naruto." Chouko said.

Naruto giggled to himself imagining all the fans he would have when he became Hokage. Sakura sweatdropped and nervously called out to Sasuke but the worlds faltered on her tongue as she looked away, blushing and mumbling to herself. Chouko snorted, not bothering to call out to the Uchiha, instead she grabbed him by the scruff oh his shirt while ignoring his swearing and insults, as she pulled him into their circle of magical friendship.

"You're either in or out. Are you going to get stronger too, are you going to sit back on the sideline and be bested by Naruto?" Chouko smirked knowing she hit a sore spot.

Sasuke glared and slapped her hand away. "This is pointless." He huffed but offered out his pinky that the others greedily snatched. "As if I'd ever be outdone by this loser." He smirked Naruto's way, gripping his pinky tighter.

Naruto stood stunned for a second, a blush on his sunkissed face. Reality came rushing back him as the others called out him; he'd been staring for a solid minute, and they were getting worried. Sasuke had turned away, face flushed and eyebrow twitching.

"S-Shut up, bastard!" Naruto huffed. "Alright then! From here on out we're going to become the best ninja the village has ever seen!"

They silently counted to three before throwing their hands into the air with cheers that echoed throughout the meadow, that for so long Chouko had hoarded to herself.

Maybe, just this once, she could share her place of happiness.

Chouko smiled and picked up her box of treats. "You know, I can't eat all these by myself." She lied. She could very much eat them by herself. "So I guess you guys are just going to have to help me!"

Sasuke was the only one to object; more for them, then.

* * *

Chouko was huffing and trembling. A gurgled cry pushed through her swollen lip that dripped blood as the wind was knocked out of her lungs, as she was sent flying backward onto her ass. She scowled and lifted her legs to flip back onto her feet.

Her body ached, but she pushed forward

Sasuke smirked. "Is that all you can really do? How pathetic. And here I was beginning to think you weren't completely hopeless." Sasuke fanned his hand in a come-hither motion that made her twitch. "I guess all the rumors about the Akimichi clan are true then, huh, tubby."

Chouko stiffened. She knew he was trying to get a reaction out of her...and it worked. She lunged at him with her fist drawn back and went to strike; Sasuke preempted her move and dodged out of the way. He grabbed her by the wrist and twisted it behind her back, ignoring her pained scream as he shoved her face into the ground.

Wow.

This felt all too familiar.

Chouko groaned. "Oi, get off! Damn it! You win again, Uchiha." Chouko huffed rolling away from the ravenette who released his hold on her. "I'll kick your ass next time though." She huffed and folded her arms over her chest. "Oi! Naruto, you doing alright there?"

Sasuke and Chouko focused their attention on Naruto and Sakura who were locked in a kunai spar. The two were heavily going at it with Sakura using her charm to her advantage, that eventually won out causing the blond-haired boy to falter and miscalculate his next move, allowing Sakura to kick the kunai from his hand and pin him.

" _Chaaa!_ I win! Did you see, Sasuke?!" Sakura squealed doing a twirl. _'I totally kicked his ass!'_ Her inner-voice cheered, pumping a celebratory fist.

Chouko was mildly surprised. Sakura was able to hold her own pretty well in a fight...when she wasn't distracted by Sasuke, that is.

"Tch. Not bad." Sasuke smirked. "You really are a loser to get defeated so easily by a girl."

"SAY THAT TO MY FACE, BASTARD!"

"I just did, moron!"

Chouko sweatdropped as Naruto and Sasuke delved into a heated argument. She figured that they just needed to kiss and make up already. She busied herself by wiping the blood from her mouth and patching up her wounds with the medical supplies she kept in her pouches.

She looked at her team with fondness, thinking that they were starting to come together...albeit slowly, they were taking baby steps to become something greater, she thought.

"NARUTO! GET YOUR HANDS OFF OF SASUKE!"

"BUT SAKURA!"

 _ **Slowly.**_

* * *

Sasuke and Naruto had settled their little debut in a fight that left Sasuke the winner, and Naruto a grumbling mess as the two sat on the ground watching the sparring match between Chouko and Sakura; Naruto was conflicted. Who did he vote for? The so-called love of his life or his very best friend? The Uzumaki boy fidgeted in his spot mumbling under his breath, annoying the Uchiha who flicked him in the head.

"Shut up you loser. Focus on the fight." Sasuke scoffed.

Naruto flipped Sasuke off and went back to watching the fight with a pout on his face.

Sakura threw up her forearms in an offensive stance as Chouko flicked her fist towards her in fast, repetitive jabs that left the pinkette short-winded as she hurriedly ducked left and right, surprised by the ferociousness the girl was hitting her with.

Sakura waited for the moment that Chouko's eyes left her and struck, but her fist met empty air as the Chouko before she disappeared in a cloud of smoke. Sakura gasped and whirl around, finding the real Chouko charging at her while preparing hand signs that when completed, had her flickering out of sight and behind the pinkette who realized too late; she felt a heavy blow to the back of her head that had her stumbling forward.

Sakura caught herself and whirled around, lifting her leg high and slamming her knee forcibly into Chouko's face. The ginger-haired girl let out a gurgled cry as she stumbled backward, surprised that Sakura had been able to recover so fast from her surprise attack. The attack left Chouko disoriented and her vision fuzzy; her head was throbbing, and she knew that she was going to have the worst headache later.

Chouko shook herself back into action and dived out of the way as Sakura charged at her with a kunai; she twisted her body, grabbing Sakura by the wrist and throwing her body onto the ground. Chouko pinned Sakura's arm behind her back and dug her knee into the small of her back to keep her still as her free hand held her head down; she announced her victory with a smirk.

It was refreshing to be the one on top for once.

"THAT WAS AWESOME CHOUKO!" Naruto cheered for his friend. "Uh, sorry that you lost, Sakura. I totally thought you had her for a minute!" The boy quickly said with reddening cheeks.

Sasuke scoffed. "The victor was obvious from the moment the fight started," Sasuke said, walking over to Chouko and giving her a hand up while Naruto helped a bruised and groaning Sakura to her feet. "Not bad, tubby," Sasuke said with a smirk and raised fist.

Chouko laughed. "Yeah? Thanks, grumpy." Chouko pounded his fist and wiped the sweat and blood from her face. "Man, she doesn't look like much but she can really pack a punch," Chouko mumbled, rubbing her swollen and bruised cheek. "Sakura, you okay? Didn't kick your ass too hard, did I?" She asked, genuinely feeling concerned.

Sakura waved her off arching her stiff back. "I'll live." She sighed. "I thought I was going to win, chaaa!" She growled pulling at her hair. "Next time you won't get so lucky, Akimichi! I'm going to beat you good, got it?!" Sakura yelled with a fire blazing behind her smoldering green eyes.

Chouko hadn't seen that look in a long time.

It excited her.

"Not a chance, Haruno."

* * *

In one of the tallest trees, the meadow had to offer sat Hatake Kakashi, leaned back against the thick and sturdy bark with his favorite little book pinched between his fingers. He sat in the shade of the tree watching as his squad trained feverishly.

He felt a fondness growing for them as they beat each other senseless.

"I really am starting to like you morons." He said with that signature smile of his as he went back to reading his book.

Kakashi's face twitched as Chouko called him a lazy pervert.

 _That one is still a work in progress._


	3. Disembark!

**A/n:** For all you wondering I will be involving more scenes with Chouko and the likes of Asuma and Kurenai and others later, rather than just in passing thought. I just need to wait for the right moments to set it up :) I also know you guys are anxious for ChouShika moments too and we'll get there, you just have to be a little patient! I don't want to rush the romance between the two since neither of them is the type to do so.

* * *

The following day had Chouko woken up even earlier to prepare for their first official mission together as a squad. None of them had any idea of what they would be doing, so she made sure to be prepared by packing more protein bars then she knew what to do with. She felt incredibly tired and sore, and sluggish from all the training they had done together the day before, but pushed it aside knowing that it was only going to get worse the farther they went along.

The thought of their first mission was terrifying to her. What could it be? She hoped for something exciting. She was worried though, that she was going to slow down her team or hold them back. What if something happened to them because of her? She'd never be able to forgive herself for it.

Chouko's shoulders slumped. She pushed the depressing thoughts aside and departed her mess of an apartment.

* * *

The mission...turned out to be a disappointment. As much as the thought of actual combat scared Chouko, she would rather have dealt with rogue ninja than spend her day getting mauled by a demented cat hell-bent on retaining its freedom from its overbearing owner.

Chouko felt no pity for the cat named Tora as it struggled in the arms Madam Shijimi, who practically squeezed the life out of the poor cat's body. Chouko could see why it wanted to escape so badly but still felt little to no remorse as she picked at the scabbed over scratches on her body.

"Ohhh, my cute, sweet little Tora-Chan! I was so worried." The large woman cried. "Mommy was so worried about her naughty little fuzzykins, yes!"

"Poor cat," Chouko mumbled. "It probably ran away from home because it wasn't getting enough to ea - _ooof_ \- Sensei!" Chouko scowled at the older jonin who played innocent. "Tsk. You know I'm right." Chouko grumbled.

She could say it, because hey, she's fat too!

Naruto scratched his head with a grimace. "Serves him right, that stupid cat!" He said bitterly, having gotten the worst injuries out of the situation.

"No wonder he ran away..." Sakura and Sasuke sighed collectively.

The Hokage cleared his throat chewing on his pipe. "The next mission for Squad Seven is..." He drawled, reading over the list in his old, wrinkled hand. "An errand is requested in the neighboring town, babysitting the Chief Councilor's three-year-old boy, helping with digging for potatoes, eh...helping his wife do the shopping -"

"NO!" Naruto yelled. "Noooo! I want to go on a real mission! Give us something challenging and not this little kid stuff, old man!"

Chouko, annoyed by the day's events, agreed.

"Lord Hokage I agree with Naruto." She sighed exasperatedly. "These aren't even really missions, are they? We're really just doing chores for people who are too lazy to do them themselves. We can't get stronger by chasing after stupid cats all days and plucking potatoes..."

 _'They have a point.'_ Sasuke thought. _'These tasks are pointless.'_

 _'Man...their such a pain!'_ Sakura huffed with a twitch. _'Geez...can't believe I agree with them.'_

Kakashi's shoulders slumped as he silently sighed. He knew that this was bound to happen with these two.

"You idiots! How dare you?!" Iruka-Sensei who had been quiet until now, shouted, slamming his palms onto the desk and glaring down the disrespectful rookies. "You're just rookies with no experience! Everyone starts out with simple missions to work their way up to develop their skills and prove themselves!"

"Well if we ever come across an enemy that specializes in vegetable jutsu, then I guess we'll be more than prepared!" Chouko yelled, hands on her hips and her mouth in a tight line.

Normally, she would have backed down and done as told, but she spent the day being mauled by a damn cat for its lunatic owner, and she wasn't in the best of moods, per-say.

"But it has been nothing but crappy missions so far and we're sick of it!" Naruto shouted back.

"I didn't sign up to be a ninja to babysit some snot-nosed brat!" Chouko growled. "So you can just - _guaff!_ Will you stop abusing me, you damn perverted sadist?!" Chouko scowled at Kakashi-Sensei who only sweatdropped.

"You two! Be quiet and listen! It is necessary to explain to you what a mission is." Kakashi sighed. "It's not something you can simply look over, understand?"

The two nodded reluctantly. Kakashi smiled and patted their heads like obedient pups; Chouko growled and snapped at him, crying out when he flicked her in the nose and called her a bad girl. Chouko tried smacking his hand away from her but Kakashi held her in place by the head, eyes crinkling in amusement at her futile attempts to throttle him.

She really wanted to kick his ass.

"Naruto, Chouko, it seems that the two of you do not understand the request that pours into our village each and every day." The Hokage said to them, drawing their attention back to it. "They range from babysitting to assassinations. Each and every request is carefully categorized and analyzed, and them from A, B, D, or D, depending on the level of their difficulty. The Hokage stands at the top and jonin, chunin, and genin at the bottom. The missions are then handed out by us at the top to the ninja of the village based on their abilities. A mission that is successful draws in revenue from our clients, that then goes into supporting the village. You are all inexperienced genin. D-Rank is perfect for you."

Truthfully...the group wasn't listening. They were more interested in hearing about what Naruto had for dinner the previous night, that had Chouko's stomach rumbling and her mouth watering. The Hokage snapping at them pulled all of their attention back to the rambling old man. Kakashi chuckled nervously, having felt embarrassed about getting caught in their shenanigans.

"I-I apologize, Lord Hokage." Kakashi-Sensei drawled sheepishly.

"Maaaan! You always lecture me like you're my grandfather or something! But I'm not that little prankster you think I am anymore! I'm a ninja now, and I want a ninja mission! I have to get stronger so that I can protect the people and fulfill my duties at the future Hokage of the village!" Naruto yelled. "They're going to be counting on me to protect and lead them and I can't let them down, got that?!"

Chouko smiled largely at Naruto. "You heard him, Lord Hokage! Naruto is really shaping up!...I'd like to think _I_ have had a hand in that." Chouko said under her breath.

Kakashi sighed and scratched the back of his head. 'Man, I am going to get scolded for this later.'

"Oka then, fine."

Their eyes widened.

"If you desire it so badly then I will give you a C-Rank mission." Lord Hokage said. "It will be a combination of escort and protection mission."

Naruto gasped and sprang to his feet. "Who? Who?! A Feudal Lord?! A princess?! Who-who-whoooo?! Come on, tell us already, old man!"

Chouko sighed. "Calm down, Naru." She said, patting him on the head.

"Don't be so impatient Naruto. I will bring him in now. Behave yourselves." The Hokage's aged eyes landed on Naruto and Chouko with a warning. Naruto pouted and Chouko shyly averted her eyes feeling rather silly about her earlier outbursts. "Send in our visitor!" The Hokage yelled to the shinobi standing outside his office.

They all turned to face the door anxiously waiting as loud footsteps drew closer. They sounded off to Chouko as if the person was stumbling and unable to catch their footing. Her curiosity only grew as the door slammed open and an older gentleman stumbled in, clutching a bronze bottle as if his very life depended on it.

Not a Feudal Lord.

Not a princess.

 _A drunk._

The man glared at them with his flushed faced and hazed over eyes. "Huh? What the hell is this? These are just a bunch of snot-nosed little brats!" The man rumbled angrily looking them over and taking a large swig of his booze; alcohol poured out of his lips and onto the floor around him.

Chouko gagged at the putrid smell and hid her nose in the back of Naruto's jacket.

"He's drunk!" Chouko scowled. The bastard smelled as if he bathed in it! Even Asuma-Sensei never smelt this strongly after a night!

The man sloppily wiped his mouth and pointed at Naruto. "Especially you, the runt, with the stupid looking face." He lazily dropped his arm and leaned against the open doorframe. "You expect me to believe that you're really a ninja?"

Naruto loud aloud wondering who the short one was. They all stepped closer to him with Sasuke being the tallest, followed by Sakura, and then finally, Chouko.

It took Naruto a minute to figure it out.

"I'LL KILL HIM!" He yelled struggling in the grip of Kakashi, who had grabbed him when his Naruto senses started to tingle.

"What's the point in killing the person you're supposed to be protecting? Idiot!" Kakashi sighed. "Did you not hear Lord Hokage? Behave."

"Remember what I told you, Naruto." Chouko sighed. "People like him aren't worth it."

The old man apparently had more fight left in him as he set his sights on Chouko. "And you - _**butterball!**_ \- am I really supposed to believe that you're capable of protecting anything other than your portion of food at dinner?!"

Her teammates choked on laughter, minus Naruto, who was still trying to mangle him. Kakashi's eyebrow twitched and sweat dripped down his face as he eyed the cherry-red Akimichi girl out of the corner of his eye. She was shaking and grinding her teeth and Kakashi was sure she was going to strike when she took a calm breath and eased herself away from the drunken man.

"My weight has nothing to do with my capabilities as a ninja. However as a word of warning, you probably should watch your tongue around the ones supposed to be guarding you; accidents happen, you know."

The room was silent at the Akimichi girl crossed her arms and turned her head. The drunken man fumbled on some kind of retort but let it die in his throat; cocky brat.

Kakashi exhaled and placed his hand on top of Chouko's head. He gave her affectionate ruffle and praised her for controlling emotions, and was even going to express that he was proud of her until she decided to blow a big, fat, raspberry in his face.

Kakashi wondered if it was too late to send her back to the academy.

"I am Tazuna, a veteran bridge builder. I expect you to provide me with super protection until I get back to my country and complete the bridge; even if that means giving your life." The drunk - Tazuna - slurred.

Chouko didn't like him one bit.

* * *

Chouko stared up at the large set of Kohona gates with a fond smile on her face. She had been out of the village a few times with Kurenai or Asuma when they needed to run errands outside of the village (with a lot of persuasion and begging), but she hadn't been able to take much of the scenery in as they always kept her close to them. It brought her a sense of nostalgia and a budding sense of homesickness, despite the fact they had yet left the village. She was a ninja herself and was officially taking her first steps out into a dangerous world where few ever returned.

At least it was a beautiful day; not a cloud in the sky. Somewhere, she bet Shikamaru was gazing up at the sky with a lazy smile on his face as Chouji crunched on his favorite chips and Ino badgered them about things that didn't matter; Chouko though after all was said and done that she'd pay them a visit and see how they have been doing.

"Alright! We're off! Come on, let's go!" Naruto cheered taking the lead of the group with Chouko right behind him, matching his pace comfortably.

"What are you getting so excited about?" Sakura asked.

"This is the first time I've ever left the village!" Naruto grinned taking in all the sights. "I'm a real traveler now - believe it!"

Chouko covered her snort with a giggle. Naruto was such an adorable dork at times.

"Hey!" Tazuna yelled. "Am I really going to be okay with this squirt?!" He directed his attention towards Naruto.

"The only joke here is you." Chouko deadpanned.

"Chouko!" Sakura reprimanded with a firm glare.

"Hahaha! Well, I am a jonin. There's no need to worry." Kakashi said. "I'll be watching over them."

Chouko sensing Naruto was about to snap gave him a playful push forward with a knowing smirk. He looked back at her with a pout but she only hummed, wagging her finger and shaking her head.

Naruto huffed.

"Hey, old man!" He called over their shoulders.

Chouko sighed.

"Don't go around mocking us, got that? I'm a super-elite ninja who is one day going to be called Hokage by the people of my village! Remember my name: Uzumaki Naruto!"

"The Hokage's the super top-dog ninja in the village, right?" Tazuna snorted inhaling down more of his booze. "I sure as hell doubt someone like you become the Hoka -"

"Shut your trap!" Chouko yelled. "You don't know Naruto. You don't know me. You don't know Sakura, Sasuke, or Kakashi-Sensei either! The only thing you know about us if that we're supposed to protecting your lousy ass, so you can get back to your precious little bridge! Don't go spreading our names around when you have none of the facts! We're going to do whatever the hell it takes to accomplish our dreams, and then the pitiful likes of you will have but no choice to acknowledge us!"

Tazuna and Chouko stared at one another intensely. The whole time he hadn't taken a sip of beer.

"The day I acknowledge any of you is the day I sprout wings and fly, butterball." The older man grunted and turned his head to her.

"And the day someone like you actually makes a change in the world, is the day that I'll become a model." Chouko shot back and turned on her heels. "But people like you never change. You condemn the world around you and wait for other people to bring that change to you."

Kakashi groaned and did something none of them expected; he picked Chouko up and threw her over his shoulder with a grunt. The gingerette girl shrieked and pounded on his back, absolutely red in the face, embarrassed, and amazed, and at the same time.

She really shouldn't have been so surprised that Kakashi could lift her, considering how strong he was and the other jonin of the village were considered to be.

"Have you lost your mind, Kakashi-Sensei?! You're going to hurt yourself!" Sakura yelled. "She's not exactly made of feathers!"

"Shut it, forehead!" Chouko scowled. "Got back to the sour patch you came from!"

"Hey! Get your hands off of Chouko, pervert!" Naruto yelled in her defense. "She's way too young for you, you creepy old geezer!"

The blood poured to Chouko's face as she let out an ungodly squeal. Kakashi sweatdropped, and smacked his face with his free hand.

What the hell had he gotten himself into?

"That's enough of you." Kakashi-Sensei hummed marching forward. "Come on along, little ones!" Kakashi sang as if speaking to a group of younglings. He adjusted Chouko on his shoulder like a sack of potatoes and move forward.

The Akimichi girl sighed.

"I hope you break your back." She hissed giving into fate.

"Hm, did I hear something?" Kakashi hummed.

Why did life hate her so much?

* * *

Kakashi had graciously allowed Chouko to walk on her own once more, who kept her distance from the jonin and kept glancing at him every chance she got; he would smile at her, and wave. Chouko resorted to looking up at the cloudy blue sky with fondness while keeping an eye on her surroundings. She could hear bits and pieces of a conversation that Sakura was having with Tazuna that she didn't care much about, that is until she heard Kakashi interject himself.

"No, there aren't ninja in the Land of Waves," Kakashi-Sensei spoke. "But in other countries, there are hidden villages that each have their own different customs and cultures where ninja reside." Kakashi-Sensei paused to see if they were still with him. "To the many countries of the continent, the existence of a shinobi village means military power. In other words, that is how these nations maintained their relationships with neighboring nations. Even so, the villages are not under the control of the nations. The ninja villages are not controlled by any government, they're independent and have equal stats. Now a small island like the Land of Waves has natural protection from the sea, so there's no need for any ninja village.

Kakashi tapped his chin thoughtfully knowing he had all their attention of him.

"The Land of Fire has the Hidden Leaf Village, while the land of water has the hidden Mist Village; Land of Lightning, the village hidden in the clouds. The Land of Wind, the village hidden in the Sand and the land of Earth, the village hidden in the Stones. Only the leaders of these hidden villages are permitted the name Kage, which means shadow. Hokage, Mizukage, Raikage, Kazekage, Tschuikage; these are the leaders, the shadows that rain over thousands of ninja."

"No kidding!" Sakura laughed. "The Hokage is that powerful?!" _'That lame geezer is really that powerful? Sounds fishy!'_

Naruto snickered remembering the time he pulled his Sexy Jutsu on the Hokage; he fainted from blood loss!

Sasuke and Chouko were silent.

"Hey!" Kakashi yelled. "Are the four of you doubting the Hokage?"

They all froze and shook their heads.

"Well, don't worry." Kakashi-Sensei patted Chouko and Sakura's heads. "There won't be any ninja combat in a C-Rank battle.

"Then, there's no worry getting into a scrape with foreign ninja!" Sakura breathed in relief.

"Of course not!" Kakashi chirped.

Chouko wasn't sure how she felt. Chouko eyed Tazuna wearily out of the corner of her eye.

Was he sweating? Or was it from all the booze he drank? Either way, he wreaked of suspicion...

 _Literally._

* * *

The group continued on peacefully, chatting amongst themselves. Chouko still felt at unease. Tazuna had been awfully quiet, and there a stillness to the air that she didn't like. She tried to stay optimistic, but the sight of a puddle left her feeling clammy and full of anxiousness.

The sky was clear.

It hadn't rained.

How did a puddle get there?

"Kaka-"

Kakashi-Sensei placed his hand on her back and pushed her forward. They locked eyes with him silently nodding at her, confirming her suspicious feeling. Chouko gulped, moving closer to the jonin and nervously tapping her kunai pouch with her eyes looking everywhere for any sign of an attack.

That sinking feeling she had was confirmed when the puddle behind them rippled, and out popped two men with chains. They quickly seized Kakashi-Sensei in their iron chains, and pulled; the sight, of Kakashi being ripped apart, left Chouko feeling cold and still, with the strong urge to vomit.

She shook her head and tried to think logically. Kakashi-Sensei saw the puddle - _he knew they were there_. So there was no chance in hell that he had been so easily defeated, allowing Chouko to relax if only a little.

"K-Kakashi-Sensei!" Naruto screamed as Sakura fell back in panic, and Sasuke stiffened.

The two men moved fast, appearing behind Naruto in a flash with the promise of him being the next one to die. Chouko's eyes widened; she screamed, digging into her weapons pouch and moving on autopilot in an attempt to save the one she held so dearly, only to be stopped as Sasuke jumped into the air and used his shuriken to pin the men's chain to a tree and then taking advantage of their defenseless state that lasted temporarily, as the men broke free.

"Chouko, Sakura, protect Tazuna!" Sasuke yelled at them.

Chouko swallowed her fear and moved with Sakura to protect Tazuna. As much as she disliked the man, she would not allow him to die over her cowardice. One of the men quickly moved to attack them but Sasuke was quicker, skidding before them with arms spread and haunting glare on his face that made their blood run cold.

But before the man could get near them he was intercepted...

By Kakashi-Sensei.

Chouko nearly cried tears of relief...but she wouldn't give the bastard the satisfaction.

"Yo!" Kakashi-Sensei greeted as if he hadn't been ripped apart mere moments ago.

Sakura cheered while Sasuke sulked about being outshined, all the while Naruto was in disbelief at the sight of their Sensei in one piece again.

"Naruto, sorry for not helping you right away," Kakashi said. "I never meant for you to get hurt. I just didn't think you'd freeze up like that, is all."

"Anyway, nice job Sasuke. Sakura, Chouko, you two as well."

Chouko shuffled her feet. She really didn't do anything, did she?

"Hey," Sasuke called Naruto. "You all right...scaredy-cat?"

Naruto growled. He was shaking with anger and it was obvious he was ready to blow a gasket. He tried to scream his frustration at the Uchiha boy but was stopped by Chouko, who had taken hold of his wrist with a firm glare on her face that warned him not to move.

"You're hurt, Naruto." She said as if she were scolding a child. "Have you not heard anything Kakashi-Sensei said? Those weird ninjas claws were soaked in poison, so we have to get it out, quickly."

Kakashi nodded. "Our best move is to open up the wound and release the poisoned blood from your body," Kakashi said. "Don't move so much. You'll spread the poison."

Kakashi turned to Tazuna who was sweating and shaking; he was afraid.

"You and I need to talk. Now."

* * *

Kakashi-Sensei had tied the men to a tree. The others stood by wearily, wondering if they would break free and attack them again, but Kakashi-Sensei assured them that they weren't in any condition to fight anytime soon.

"These are chunin from the Mist Village," Kakashi told them. "They specialize in relentless attack, meaning they'll keep fighting no matter the sacrifice."

Chouko gulped. What was the hell kind of ninja was the Mist made of?

"How were you able to detect our movements?" One asked.

"There probably wouldn't puddles on a clear and sunny day like today, when it hasn't rained in weeks." Kakashi eyed them.

Tazuna stared at Kakashi-Sensei. "If you knew all of that then why did you leave the Genin to do all of the fighting?" He asked, and Chouko was curious too.

"If I had wanted to...I could have killed these two instantly, but.." Kakashi glanced at Tazuna. "I needed to know who the target was that these two were after."

"W-What do you mean?" Tazuna asked in a cold sweat.

"Quit playing games, you drunken fool." Chouko glared. "Your body language gave it all away. You've been lying to us the whole time."

"Why you-"

"I needed to know if they were after us or if they were after you." Kakashi cut in. "When you put in your request you asked for standard protection from thieves or gangs and the like. This is a mission of B rank or higher. This was supposed to be a simple protection mission until you completed the bridge. You didn't say there was ninja looking for you, hunting you down. If we knew we'd be fielding attacks from enemy ninja we would have staffed differently and charged for the cost of a B mission." Kakashi's eyes narrowed. "I'm sure you have a reason, but it causes problems when you lie about the mission details. We are now operating outside our duties."

 _'He's willing to put our lives at risk to save some coin. What a dick.'_ Thought Chouko, bitterly.

"This missions is too soon for us." Sakura gulped. "We still need medicine for Naruto's wound. We should go back to the village and get him to a doctor, quickly."

Chouko knew half of it was Sakura just being a coward and wanting to run - _she did too_ \- but deep down, there was a part of her worried for Naruto, too.

"This sure is a burden." Kakashi sighed dramatically. "Well, I guess we should head back to the village since Naruto needs to be treated, and all."

"Gyuuuuahhhh!"

Chouko's eyes widened. Naruto had taken one of his kunai and stabbed it into his wound. She rushed over to him, ripping the kunai from his hand and to the surprise of the others - smacked him across the face.

 _Hard._

"What the hell are you doing?!" Chouko yelled teary-eyed. "Have you lost your mind, Naruto?!"

"Naruto! Stop that! What are you doing?!" Sakura shrieked.

"I worked so hard to get here!" Naruto yelled, pushing Chouko away as he continued to stab at his hand.

She watched him wide-eyed and silent.

"All the time I spent pushing myself until it hurt! Training alone for hours - anything to get stronger, to reach my dream! I will never back down again and leave it for someone else to rescue me. I never run away. I won't lose to Sasuke. Upon this wound, I make this pledge, believe it! I'll protect the old man and complete the mission with this kunai. A real ninja neither gives up and neither do I! Don't you guys worry about me, I'll be fine! Now let's go!"

Sakura sighed reaching into her own ninja pouch and pulling out some medical supplies. "Naruto! You've got a self-abusive personality." She grumbled, pulling out some tubes of ointment that Chouko didn't recognize, and bandages.

"You've gotten the poison out of your body but now you run the risk of bleeding out." She said, wiping away the blood. "If you keep losing blood like this then you're going to die; hold still."

"No, no, no! I'm too young to go out like this, Sakura!"

"Hold still Naruto!"

'Uhh, Sakura...you have a really serious look on your face. You're scaring me, am I okay?!"

Sakura blinked. The wound on his hand...was healing; she'd never seen anything like it before. Still, she kept quiet as she cleaned the blood and grime from his hand, and wrapped it snuggly in a clean bandage.

Chouko was slightly fascinated. When they were young the pinkette had once expressed becoming a medical ninja, and even did a whole bunch of research and practiced of her dolls, before deciding she wanted to be a ninja. She learned most of her medical knowledge from researching it at the library and from her dad, who was always worry-wart when it came to her safety, always wanting her to be prepared.

It seemed like she still retained some of that information.

Or perhaps she had never truly forgotten?

Naruto bounced around on his feet thanking Sakura for saving his life. Sakura only blushed and told him to shut up. Chouko pushed herself forward and flicked Naruto in the head ignoring his whining. She proceeded to grab him by the ear and scold him for being so damn reckless and making her worry and putting his life in danger.

Then, she held out her pinky and said: "You're not alone in this. We all made a promise, remember?" She smiled, wiggling her pinky finger.

Naruto stared at it with a solemn smiled. "Yeah, I remember." He said taking her pinky finger. "We'll all get stronger then, together."

"That's right, idiot." Sakura sighed and joined the pinky embrace. "Don't go putting yourself into any more dangerous situations, got it? I'm not going to come to your rescue every time." She huffed.

"And I'm not going to come to her rescue every time she fails to save you," Sasuke said. "You're still leagues beneath me, you loser. At the rate you're going you'll never be able to catch up with me." Sasuke said, though added his pinky to the pile; they all smiled - or smirked - and shook on it.

"Look at my cute little genius!" Kakashi cooed. "You're all becoming such great friends!" He teased.

Chouko scowled at him. "Let's make another vow, okay? That we'll never end up a lonely and old pervert like Kakashi-Sensei. All in favor, say aye!" Said Chouko with a grin and wink.

 _"AYE!"_

Kakashi's eyes twitched.

This kid...

 _...Is starting to grow on him._

* * *

A lot of things made Chouko nervous in life and boats were definitely aimed at the top of that list. She hated the way they constantly rocked back and forth and how fragile they are. It seemed like such a silly thing to be nervous of when there are much bigger threats out there in the world. She was sitting towards the back of the little boat squished beside Kakashi who seemed like the most unlikely and likely to let her drown if the boat were to capsize. Chouko cradled her knees trying to focus her mind on something other than the eerie thick mist that surrounded them, as they continued on with their journey.

"This mist is so thick..." Sakura mumbled. "I can't see a thing ahead of us."

"Yeah, you don't have to remind me," Chouko grumbled. "Sensei, was it really smart to get on this little thing in a fog as thick as this? What if...something happens?"

Kakashi's eyebrows quirked and she imagined an amused smiling toying at his lips. "Oh, is my cute little genin scared? You challenged Lord Hokage for this mission, remember? Don't tell me that you're wanting to turn back now." Kakashi tapped his chin and shook his head like a disappointed father. "Tut, tut, I had higher hopes for you, Chouko."

Kakashi let out a sigh that had the genin rolling her eyes at his dramatic disposition. She would kill to be able to be sitting back with Asuma and his team at some barbeque place trading endless banter over delicious grilled food, over being trapped on a ride of death with an annoying Sensei who knew how to get under her skin.

"The bridge should be visible soon." The man steering the boat told them. "The Wave Country is at the base of the bridge. "

Chouko despite her looming fear leaned forward excited to see anything other than fog. Sure enough, a massive bridge came into view that had them all gaping in shock at the sight of it.

"Wooow! It's hu -" "Quiet, Naruto!"

Chouko securely wrapped her hands around Naruto's mouth as nervous sweat dribbled down her face.

"We're trying to be stealth, remember?" She whispered harshly. "You don't go announce your presence when on a stealth mission, Naruto."

"H-Hey! Please be quiet from now on." The man frantically whispered. "Why do you think we're hiding in the mist and are not using the engine? We'll be in some deep trouble if Gatou finds us."

 _'Gatou?'_ Chouko wondered to herself. She glanced at Kakashi-Sensei who was looking at Tazuna knowingly. Quietly she scooted back to her original spot while holding her finger to her lips in warning to Naruto; the quirky blond feverishly nodded his head while holding his hands clamped over his mouth.

"Tazuna, I want to talk to you," Kakashi said. "There's something I need to ask you before we arrive at the pier." Kakashi-Sensei's eyes turned sharp and any friendliness he held previously in his tone had disappeared. "The identity of your assailants, and the reason why they are after you. If you don't tell us, then our mission may end as soon as we make landfall."

Tazuna sighed and rubbed the back of his head. Chouko wearily eyed the bottle of half-drunken booze that he cradled in his lap, wondering if he was going to finally tell them the truth, or another tall tale empowered by a drunken rage.

"To be frank, you were right about this mission going beyond your scope. In all actuality, I am being targeted by a very terrifying man."

Chouko stiffened.

"Who?" Kakashi asked voicing her thoughts.

"You've probably at least heard his name before." Tazuna sighed. "A wealthy shipping magnate by the name Gatou."

"Huh, Gatou?" Kakashi's eyes widened. "Gatou of the Gatou Company? I've heard that he is supposed to one of the worlds richest men."

"Huh?" Naruto tilted his head. "Who the hell is this guy?"

"I've never heard his name before." Chouko shrugged. "Sounds like a pretty big deal, though."

"On the surface, he's the chief executive of a shipping company...but underneath, he deals drugs and other illegals items using ninjas and gang members to take over businesses and countries." Tazuna's eyes were half-lidded as he stared at his forgotten bottle. "He's a very ruthless man."

Chouko frowned trying to swallow the thick anxiety building in her throat.

"It was about one year ago when the man first set his eyes on the Land of the Waves," Tazuna said. "Through money and violence, he quickly took control of the country's shipping industry. Gatou now has a monopoly on all business traffic in the country." Tazuna shook his head solemnly. "The only thing that Gatou fears...is the completion of the bridge."

Chouko perked up. "So then..." She felt a bit of guilt wash over her and quietly retracted her statement, letting Sakura speak instead.

"I see." Sakura tucked her chin between her fingers. "Since you're the one building the bridge you've become a hindrance to Gatou's plans.

"Then, those ninjas from before were hired by Gatou?" Sasuke asked seeming to connect the pieces.

"Then that's why they were so desperate to try and stop us." Chouko finished their thoughts. "It all makes sense now."

Naruto look between the three of them with a question mark floating above his head.

"I...don't get it." He said, hanging his head; Chouko patted him on the back in comfort.

"What I don't understand is if you knew that ninjas hired by Gatou would be after you, why did you go as far as to hide that when you hired us?" Sensei asked.

Tazuna sighed clutching his bottle.

"The Land of the Waves...is a very poor nation, and even the feudal lords have no money."

Chouko mentally kicked herself as guilt began to run through her veins. Sure she herself didn't live the most luxurious life, but she knew well enough that with her line work and the people looking after her, that it was enough to live comfortably and not have to worry.

"Of course, we ordinary citizens have no money either." Tazuna frowned. "Certainly not enough to afford the expense of a B-Rank mission. Well, if you pull out of the mission now when I land ashore, I will, no doubt be killed." Tazuna hummed. "Ah, but don't worry yourselves over it! Should I die, my grandchild will turn eight will only cry his eyes out for a few days!"

Chouko felt her eye twitch as her guilt slowly turned to annoyance...though, the image of a certain brown-haired brat with a scarf way too long for him, did come to mind that her heartstrings playing a tune of affection. She wondered what the little brat was doing. She could imagine that he was certainly up to no good and causing both his grandfather and uncle grief, and the damn pesky Sensei of his; Konohamaru was a brat, but she adored the little pest no less. Asuma-Sensei was like a father-figure to her and in extension, that made Konohamaru like a little brother to her...

...And damn this bridge builder all the way to the fiery pits of hell for tugging at her emotions.

"Oh! I am most grateful." Tazuna bowed. Tough as soon as he thought their backs were turned, he made a peace sign as if speaking to an imaginary audience. "I win." He chuckled under his breath.

"This guy..." Sasuke's eye twitched.

"Just played us...like a damn fool." Chouko finished.

"Tazuna it would appear that we've remained unspotted." The driver of the boat said. "Just in case we'll take the route that has vegetation. It will make it harder for the enemies to spot us."

"Thanks." Tazuna nodded.

The group quietly moved along with a sense of unease filling the pits of their stomachs.


	4. Update: I'm back

I bet you all thought you seen the last of me huh? Well for a while you did. It was unannounced but I pretty much took a very much long and needed break from writing. I was very burnt out on it and was unhappy with everything that I would try to write. I tried to force myself to sit down and write but nothing was coming up and I just felt drained and decided it was time for a break. I never announced this because I knew that intentionally or unintentionally I would be guilt tripped into doing something that I was unhappy doing. I would still create characters and brainstorm characters, but nothing ever felt good enough for me to upload and share with you all, so I just avoided writing all together. The only one who knows of my struggles with my writing is my dearest friend, TheCocoQueen, who has been an amazing source of encouragement and advice and I'm so thankful for her, for all the times she listened to me ramble aimlessly and dump my problems on her.

Not to get too sappy or make this too long I've come to announce that I am in fact ready to start writing again. Stepping back and allowing myself room to breath has really helped me clear my mind and figure out what I want to do with my stories. I'm very excited, and to those who have stuck around with me all this time I am so incredibly thankful to you and all the support and love you've given me and I'm truly sorry, for letting you all down with my absence.

I have a new account that I will be using under the named "Scroodle" with a list of all my planned stories, both new and old.

I'm not going to lie and say I'm not nervous because I am. I don't know whether my writing has improved or not but I suppose there is only one way to tell.

Thank you to everyone, again.

I really do appreciate you all.

-Brittany


	5. Rewrite is officially posted!

GUYS I DID IT!

The rewrite to Chouko's story is up on my new account (Scroodle) under the name Flutter By, Butterfly!

Thank you for being so patient with me everyone!

I'm so excited (and nervous) to be back!


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